I hope that Azerbadjian and Turkmenistan act fast....
The US special envoy to Syria, Thomas Barrack, said the Middle East is going through what he described as an […]
english.enabbaladi.net
Barrack: Finding an alternative route to Hormuz and the Red Sea
Envoy Thomas Barrack said the opportunities lie not only in oil and gas production, but also in pipelines. However, when looking at pipelines, he said they historically have not operated efficiently, having been used at only around 30% of their capacity in the region because of continuous wars, security disruptions, weak infrastructure, and a lack of capital investment.
Still, the US envoy said this “exceptional” opportunity is now emerging because of the major challenges, especially under current conditions, with both the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea posing a serious dilemma. Therefore, he said, an alternative route that offers a different solution is needed.
Barrack added, according to
Enab Baladi’s translation of his remarks, that local and international pipelines intersect in Syria. He noted that there had once been a proposal known as the “Four Seas Project,” put forward during the rule of the now-ousted Assad regime.
The project was based on making Syria a link between the Arabian Gulf, the Caspian Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Black Sea, meaning that Turkey and Syria could become a hub for redistributing energy.
The “Four Seas” connection project was a
proposal put forward by former Turkish President Abdullah Gül in 2009 during a visit to Syria and a meeting with former regime president Bashar al-Assad. At the time, Gül announced that he wanted unlimited cooperation between Ankara and Damascus, calling on Assad to “connect the four seas surrounding the countries of Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Iraq to become a global trade hub.”
