Death of Georgia transit function “slightly” exaggerated

After the Russian aggression certain politicians and analysts declared that the Georgian transit routes are dead and alternative directions needed to be identified. As the situation more or less stabilized the need for this slowly disappeared. But at the same time it became clear that a major reason for the initial confrontation was the presence of transit routes between east and west which by-passed Russia.

The August war proved very damaging for Azerbaijan’s exports. Before the war started there was an explosion in Turkey which affected Azerbaijan’s ability to transport gas and oil. Following the Russian invasion of Georgia a vital railway bridge was blown up and the pipeline BTC was threatened. Consequently, as Payvand.com information portal states, under the circumstances Azerbaijan had to start exporting its oil via Iran. SOCAR headquarters however says that if the BTC will function as normal oil transit should continue and there will be no need to use other pipelines.

Vice President Cheney’s visit to the Caucasus has been interpreted as an expression of US concern over the viability of BTC oil transit. Experts however think that speculations about threats to the Baku-Tbilisi transit route are premature and if the South Caucasus and Central Asian countries want to integrate with the Western world they should stick to this route.

Azeri MP Ali Masymly thinks that the NABUCCO pipeline project should also be implemented. Chairman of the Oil Research Centre Ilham Shaban thinks that the Azeri-Georgia route could not be replaced.