Kazakhstan Oil

“Oil Shortfall in Caspian Sea Basin May Doom U.S.-Backed Plan” (March 26) concludes with observations that substantially differ from what I was told last week in Kazakhstan by that country’s president and others. “Independent experts scoff” at the possibility of Kazakhstan oil being transported via the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline, your article says. But Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev told me in Astana, “Our strategy in the area of petroleum export is based upon the necessity of diversifying transport routes.”

While he considers the Baku-Ceyhan project to be “excessively politicized,” he concludes nonetheless that “we are ready to take part in it as one of the basic suppliers of crude oil,” naturally taking account of both “profitability and political risk.” There is a lot of wiggle room here, but to brush the possibility off so lightly seems a bit cavalier.

WILLIAM RATLIFF

Senior Research Fellow

Hoover Institution, Stanford