Essay - When Most Americans Today Think About the Problems of Getting...

When most Americans today think about the problems of getting the oil that is needed to run our economy through the rest of this century, they will no doubt find themselves thinking either about drilling for oil in Alaska - since this topic has been so much in the news over the past several months - or establishing peace in the Middle East so that oil may continue to flow from that region to the United States ***** a topic ***** ***** been in the news even more s*****ce the September 11 terrorist attacks.

But while both Alaska and the ***** East will ***** doubt remain at the center of energy policy - or at least controversy over energy ***** - ***** ***** foreseeable future, we must remember that there are other important s*****ces ***** energy in the world, and *****se too exist amid a cyclone of political contr*****sy.

One of the most important of these areas is the ***** that lies under the Caspian sea, an area of the world rich in potential oil ********** that may or ***** not be exploited in the future.

Stauffer outl*****es the potential as *****ll as the key factor that may lead to their never being developed for the Caspian reserves. For while there seems to be little d*****agreement amongst geologists ***** petroleum engineers that a supply of oil does indeed undergird ***** part of the world (although there have been disagreements over the quality and quantity ***** the deposits), it may well be ***** it is simply not economically possible to extract it and make a profit. And who would do ***** without being *****ble to make a profit?

We *****ddress here the elementary question of whether new pipelines are in fact economical-***** ***** pipelines or fantasy? If the projects are economically or financially infeasible, then further agonized analys***** of national aspirations and inte*****s is moot. Or, if the ***** are not economical, ***** reality forces serious discussion in a different direction: Is t***** *****ny par*****y willing ***** subsidize uneconomical pipelines in Central Asia?

The question of the ***** profitability of this site is to some extent a technical one. But it also involves ***** and social issues as well, for economic questions are never simply mathematical ones. They are combinations of the mathematical ***** the social.

***** Caspian Sea ***** is to begin showing up at a gas station near you any time soon, it will be *****cause ***** has *****ed ***** the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline. Th***** *****, which was very nearly never built, has ***** at ***** center ***** both ***** and political differences ***** the viability of Caspian Sea oil.

A ********** report released April 16 predicted the speedy opening of the pipeline:

gro***** of international ***** companies led by BP Plc. (BP) is only two months away from completing ***** detailed engineering for a $3 billion dollar U.S.-backed Caspian oil export pipeline, the general manager of ***** project said Tuesday.

Once the detailed engineering phase of the pipeline is