Cáucaso: guerra pelo petróleo?

"...BP decidiu encerrar um oleoduto que transporta petróleo do Azerbaijão para a Geórgia,
mostrando-se preocupada com a insegurança no país."

"Georgia is a crucial transit point for oil and gas. Three major pipelines connecting energy sources in the Caucasus and Central Asia to European markets pass through its territory. One of these, the South Caucasus pipeline, is an important part of the plan for the Nabucco pipeline to Austria, which would deliver natural gas directly to the European Union, bypassing Russia entirely, if built."

The Russian government, which controls Gazprom, the world's largest gas company, has tried frantically to cajole its European customers into ignoring Nabucco and investing instead in its own new pipelines.

That arm-twisting has been unsuccessful in blocking the Nabucco plan, which has firm backing from the EU and could vastly reduce its dependence on Moscow for energy. But even if the result of the war in Georgia is not the overthrow of the Saakashvili government, it is likely to make pipeline investments there look very risky indeed.

The outsized Russian response to Mr. Saakashvili's provocation, which is beginning to look like a full-scale invasion, must be understood in this context.[...]

About a tenth of Russia's tax revenue comes directly from Gazprom, which is one of the world's largest corporations. The company also has a habit of cutting supplies to states with which the Kremlin has disagreements in the dead of winter, as it has to Georgia and Ukraine.

...European governments, dependent on Russian energy supplies, are wary of antagonizing Moscow by protesting too loudly.[...]"

Globe and Mail