BTC to open new avenues

The pipeline - built by a consortium of 11 companies, including British Petroleum, Unocal, and Turkey's national oil corporation - is designed to bring a non-Middle Eastern source of oil to the West. This would loosen Russia's and Iran's grip on the transport of Caspian and Central Asian oil by creating a new route that is friendlier to the United States and Europe. In the past decade, the Caspian Sea has become one of the world's most promising new regions for petroleum investment and development, as well as the focus of intense international competition for access and ...