'oil pipeline' - tagged features

The European Commission has unveiled an ambitious energy package, in a bid to combat climate change and reduce Europe's dependency on foreign energy sources. The move came just days after Russia turned off the taps on a key pipeline, running through Belarus to the Czech republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Moscow finally resumed oil supplies to Europe on Wednesday, but this new standoff with Russia's President Vladimir Poutin, highlights once more the urgent need for Europe to diversify its energy resources. reports from Brussels. 

On Thursday, leaders and representatives from more than 20 countries descended on Ceyhan, Turkey's main Mediterranean oil terminal. They are there for the official opening of the world's second longest oil pipeline. The 3 billion euro Baku Tbilisi Ceyhan pipeline runs from Azerbaijan via Georgia to Turkey And will deliver more than million tonnes of oil a week to the world's markets. The oil comes from the Eurasian states of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. The region used to be part of the former Soviet Union. And that is why this pipeline is seen as having not only economic importance but political as well. For the United States, one of the pipeline's main political backers, it is seen as a crucial step not only to unlocking urgently needed resources, but also to giving the energy rich region greater independence from its former Russian master.