Afghanistan Oil Pipeline

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Afghanistan Oil Pipeline
Location
CountryTurkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India
General directionnorth–south
FromTürkmenabat, Turkmenistan
Passes throughAfghanistan
ToPakistan's Arabian Sea Coast
Runs alongsideTrans-Afghanistan Gas Pipeline
General information
TypeOil
OwnerUnocal Corporation
Technical information
Length1,000 mi (1,600 km)
Maximum discharge1 million barrels per day (~5.0×10^7 t/a)

The Afghanistan Oil Pipeline was a project proposed by several oil companies to transport oil from the Caspian region and Central Asia through Afghanistan to Pakistan.

History[]

In the 1990s, the American Unocal Corporation, in addition to the Trans-Afghanistan Gas Pipeline, considered building a 1,600-kilometre-long (1,000 mi) 1,000,000 barrels per day (~5.0×10^7 t/a) oil pipeline to link Türkmenabat in Turkmenistan to the Pakistan's Arabian Sea coast. Through the Omsk (Russia) – Pavlodar (Kasakhstan) – ShymkentTürkmenabat pipeline, it would provide a possible alternative export route for regional oil production from the Caspian Sea. The pipeline was expected to cost US$2.5 billion. However, due to political and security instability at that time, the project was dismissed.[1]

Disputed theory[]

Some have proposed that the actual motive for the United States-led Western invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 was Afghanistan's importance as a conduit for oil pipelines to Afghanistan's neighbouring countries, by effectively bypassing Russian and Iranian territories, and breaking the Russian and Iranian collective monopoly on regional energy supplies.[2] Others have argued that the theoretical pipeline was not a significant reason for the invasion because most Western governments and their respective oil companies preferred an export route that went through the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan then to Georgia and on to the Black Sea instead of one that goes through Afghanistan.[3]

See also[]

  • Ashgabat agreement
  • North-South Transport Corridor

References[]

  1. ^ "The Oil Connection: Afghanistan and Caspian Sea oil pipeline routes". The New Humanist. Archived from the original on 2002-06-15. Retrieved 2008-08-09.
  2. ^ Stevenson, Seth (2001-12-06). "Pipe Dreams". Slate. Archived from the original on 4 August 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-09.
  3. ^ Haslett, Malcolm (2001-10-29). "Afghanistan: the pipeline war?". BBC. Archived from the original on 19 August 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-09.
Retrieved from ""