Russia, Georgia, Oil

[Kathianne]

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=%5EDJI

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080812/...y_pipelines_dc

BP shuts Georgia oil, gas pipelines as a precaution

1 hour, 27 minutes ago

BP (BP.L) has closed two oil and gas pipelines running from its Caspian Sea fields through Georgia but neither has been damaged by recent fighting in the country, a spokesman for the British oil major said on Tuesday.

Georgia accused Russia of bombing its fuel lines on Tuesday, allegations denied by Moscow.

"We have checked those and there are no reports of any impact to any of the pipelines," the BP spokesman said.

The closure further limits BP's export options from the land-locked Caspian Sea after a fire damaged last week its key link to Turkey, Baku-Ceyhan, forcing to cut output from offshore Azeri fields to 250,000 barrels per day from 850,000 bpd.

On Tuesday, the company closed the 155,000-barrel a day Western Route Export Pipeline (WREP) running from Baku in Azerbaijan to the Georgian port of Supsa until it feels safe to reopen it.

...

[Gaffer]

The russians aren't going to bomb the pipe lines. They want them intake when they take over. They only want to appear threatening. They pipe lines are of no strategic significance in the war effort, only in the long term efforts of controlling the flow of oil to europe.