British Petroleum officials say they were operating under authority of the government of Azerbaijan, which also lays claim to the area, as does Turkmenistan.

The incident highlights the stakes in the region, involving potential profits of hundreds of billions of dollars from oil and gas sales. The governments of the five countries that surround the sea--Azerbaijan Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan--are jockeying for their share of an estimated 70 billion to 200 billion barrels of oil that are buried beneath the sea bed. The Russian and Iranian governments argue that previous treaties and international national boundaries give them the largest share of the area.

"The West broadly backs Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, where their oil companies have invested heavily," said the Economist, referring to Washington, London, and other imperialist powers. U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice warned Tehran about the incident while speaking to reporters in Moscow, saying, "We believe that the Iranians need to be dealt with pretty clearly on issues like this and on issues like weapons of mass destruction."

Washington is bent on grabbing the lion's share of the oil wealth in the Caspian Sea, putting it on a collision course with Moscow and Iran. "Getting assured access to the region would be a major asset for the West," said Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former U.S. national security adviser who has been pushing for building an oil pipeline in the region. For the past six years the U.S. government has been pushing the construction of a major oil export pipeline from the Caspian Sea via Georgia to Turkey.

Although the longest and most expensive alternative, "this route is favored by the United States government," reported the Washington Post, "which sees it as a way to build up Turkey, assure delivery of oil to the Mediterranean through friendly territory, and promote as much independence as possible in the former Soviet Republics. American oil companies, however, say they would need big subsidies because of the expense." This route would also bypass Russia and Iran. In November 1999 former U.S. president William Clinton supervised the signing of a deal between the governments of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Georgia to build the pipeline.

Washington has also been probing for openings to establish a military presence in the region. In 1997 the Pentagon conducted military exercises in Kazakhstan that included U.S. troops and soldiers from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan--former Soviet republics on Russia's southern flank.

Currently only Moscow and Tehran have a significant naval presence in the Caspian Sea. Last month the Kremlin announced that three new warships were joining its fleet in the Caspian. In January its armada conducted military maneuvers with live ammunition, then anchored the warships off Baku before asking permission.

The Russian government is trying to regain lost influence in the Caspian basin following the collapse of the Soviet Union when the Caspian republics broke into Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Russia. The Soviet Union was once the world's largest oil producer, pumping a peak of 12.5 million barrels a day in 1988. This year the combined oil exports from the former Soviet oil-producing states of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan are projected to be around 3 million barrels a day.

Meanwhile, the U.S. oil giants, Chevron and ExxonMobil, are sinking their roots deep into Kazakhstan. Chevron obtained a 50 percent interest in the Tengiz oil field and began building an "American village" for its executives in the port city of Atyrau. "The $50 million complex promises to be an island of American suburbia," commented Steve LeVine, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. "In summer, Chevron families will splash in pools fed by a self-contained water-purification system."

Atyrau, often plagued with water shortages, is one of the poorest areas in Kazakhstan, where an estimated half of the country's 14.9 million people live on $1 a day or less.

Oil was recently discovered in the Kashagan oil field located off the shore of Kazakhstan. Industry official estimate it could contain as much as 50 billion barrels of oil. A consortium of nine imperialist-based oil companies has been conducting oil drilling in the Kashagan field, including Britain's BG Group, Italy's ENI SpA, ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and France's TotalFinaElf.  
 
 
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