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NEWS
February 3rd 2005
BP Oil Pipeline An Ever Greater Safety Threat, Activists Warn On first anniversary of finance agreement, independent audit is essential
Human rights and environmental groups today emphasised the growing dangers posed by BP’s flagship oil project, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, and urged the World Bank and other major backers of the project to undertake an independent audit into project safety.
Today marks the first anniversary of the signing of the loan agreement for BTC between BP and the World Bank and other funders, who include the British government and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The agreement provided hundreds of millions of pounds in public funds for the much touted pipeline, which intends to bring oil from the Caspian Sea through Azerbaijan, Georgia and eastern Turkey to the Mediterranean Sea and on to Western markets.
Celebrations have been tempered ever since the signing by a growing range of serious problems with the project, primarily involving safety. BP insiders have criticised the choice of a safety coating for the project, intended to keep water out of the pipeline’s joints, which has been shown to be chemically incapable to adhering to the outside of the pipe. The pipeline will therefore allow in water, and the consequences could be anything from widespread corrosion and oil leakage to “stress corrosion cracking”—pipeline explosions at high temperatures.
In November 2004, senior government officials admitted to a parliamentary inquiry into BTC that the coating system had no track record, contradicting assurances given to Parliament by former trade minister Mike O’Brien the previous June. One of the project’s main private backers, the Italian bank Banca Intesa, has since begun to pull out of BTC.
BTC has also encountered a vast range of other problems, including allegations of corruption, the intimidation and impoverishment of local communities, severe environmental damage, the strengthening of undemocratic regimes and whistleblower allegations of shoddy workmanship and violations of basic standards.
“There is nothing to celebrate at this point; given the likelihood of a major environmental and social disaster, any form of celebration looks like nothing more than hubris,” said Nick Hildyard of the Cornerhouse. “The World Bank and other backers of BTC must fulfil their obligations to the people of the region and Western taxpayers, and undertake an independent audit of the project to guarantee its safety.” |
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