Talking to Radio Free Europe, about the recent sinking of an oil platform in Mexico, former Russian energy minister, Yuri Shafranik, said that a similar leak in the Caspian territory would be "catastrophic". The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which sent trails through the ecosystems of the US South, has been a great concern to the International Community and the Caspian states.
The international community is now looking in to energy policies as a means to prevent a repeat of the Mexico disaster; while Caspian considers an oil pipeline that would bring oil from Kazakhstan to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. Talking about the prospect of such a pipeline, Shafranik issued a warning, quoting research conducted by regional experts, that laying a pipeline on the Caspian Sea floor might prove disastrous.
"Experts have stated continuously that pipes must not be laid beneath the Caspian. And if wells are drilled it must be only under strict international supervision," said Shafranik. The former minister finished the interview by pointing out that safety regulations in the Russian oil sector are decades behind their Western counterparts.
Source: United Press International
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