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Strategies & Market Trends : Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mishedlo who wrote (65468)	5/10/2007 10:43:00 PM
From: andiron	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 116555

shouldn't higher yuan eventually mean higher inflation in US thru imports//

To: mishedlo who wrote (65468)	5/12/2007 3:16:30 PM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

Another EU blunder - DJ UPDATE: Russia, Central Asia Leaders Strike Gas Pipeline Deal TURKMENBASHI, Turkmenistan (AP)--The leaders of Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan reached a landmark pipeline deal on Saturday that will strengthen Moscow's control over Central Asia's energy export routes. The deal to build a pipeline along the Caspian Sea coast to ship Turkmen natural gas to Western markets via Kazakhstan and Russia is a blow to U.S. and European efforts to secure alternatives to Middle East oil and gas that would be independent from Russian influence. "We are opening the Caspian route at the request of Turkmenistan," Russian President Vladimir Putin said after the announcement of the deal in the Turkmen city of Turkmenbashi on the Caspian shore. Putin said the new pipeline's annual capacity may reach "at least" 20 billion cubic meters of gas by 2012, while Russian Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko told reporters that it could eventually carry 30 billion cubic meters a year. There was no official word on the new pipeline's cost, but the ITAR-Tass news agency said that a 2003 estimate put it at around $1 billion back in 2003. The deal comes amid increased competition for Turkmenistan's vast gas reserves since the death last year of President Saparmurat Niyazov, who had signed deals to build export pipelines to power-hungry China. Turkmenistan is the second-biggest gas producer in the former Soviet Union after Russia, and its gas resources are playing an increasingly important role in the geopolitics of the region. Russia controls the only export routes for Turkmenistan's gas and the main pipeline for Kazakh oil exports. The U.S. and the European Union have lobbied hard for a route under the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan and Turkey, bypassing Russia. While both Turkmen President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov and Kazakhstan's Nursultan Nazarbayev signaled Saturday that the trans-Caspian pipeline may also be considered in the future, the latest deal means that Russia would control the bulk of Central Asian energy exports. Also on Saturday, the three presidents announced an agreement involving Uzbekistan to revamp the entire Soviet-built pipeline network that carries Central Asian gas to outside markets via Russia. Khristenko said that once revamped, the system would be capable of carrying 90 billion cubic meters of gas annually. He scoffed at the trans-Caspian pipeline proposal as being economically unfeasible, saying it could only be viewed as a "political project." The new pipeline announced Saturday could further boost Russia's role as a major supplier of oil and gas to Europe and strengthen Western fears that Moscow could use its energy clout for political purposes. Putin sought to assuage such fears, saying that "we very responsibly take our role in the global energy sector." Nazarbayev said there was "no politics whatsoever" behind the new pipeline deal. "We will transport (oil and gas) by whichever route is profitable," he said. However, Berdymukhamedov held the door open for the trans-Caspian route. "There is a diversification (of energy routes) going on these days in the whole world. We do not rule out that we will consider this (trans-Caspian) option," he said. Washington and Brussels have intensified diplomacy over the trans-Caspian project since Russia briefly halted gas supplies to its ex-Soviet neighbors at the start of 2006 and 2007 amid politically charged price fights that led to shortfalls in supplies to the European Union. In another blow to Western hopes of securing Central Asian energy shipments that bypass Russia, Putin and Nazarbayev on Thursday agreed to expand the existing oil pipeline that carries crude oil from Kazakhstan's Tengiz field to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiisk. Putin also agreed to Kazakhstan's participation in a Russian-controlled pipeline that runs from Bulgaria's Black Sea port of Burgas to Alexandroupolis, in northern Greece. The two deals are likely to reduce Kazakhstan's interest in routes connecting with the U.S.-backed Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline that carries Caspian oil to Turkey on a route that bypasses Russia. From Turkmenistan, Putin is scheduled to go to Kazakhstan's Caspian city of Aktau. (END) Dow Jones Newswires May 12, 2007 06:48 ET (10:48 GMT)