Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08ASHGABAT958
2008-07-24 14:03:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Ashgabat
Cable title:
TURKMENISTAN/AZERBAIJAN: GAC MARINE OFFERS DETAIL
how-toVZCZCXYZ0003 PP RUEHWEB DE RUEHAH #0958/01 2061403 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 241403Z JUL 08 FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1226 INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 0405 RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 4071 RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 1886 RUEHKL/AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR PRIORITY 0200 RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 1752 RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL PRIORITY 2321 RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC PRIORITY RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L ASHGABAT 000958
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, EUR/CARC, EEB
PLEASE PASS TO USTDA DAN STEIN
ENERGY FOR EKIMOFF/THOMPSON
COMMERCE FOR HUEPER
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/25/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV EPET AJ TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN/AZERBAIJAN: GAC MARINE OFFERS DETAIL
ON APRIL 11 AZERI GUNBOAT EPISODE
REF: A. IIR 6 941 0063 08
B. ASHGABAT 0884
C. IIR 6 940 0006 08
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Sylvia R. Curran for reasons 1.4(B) an
d (D).
C O N F I D E N T I A L ASHGABAT 000958
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, EUR/CARC, EEB
PLEASE PASS TO USTDA DAN STEIN
ENERGY FOR EKIMOFF/THOMPSON
COMMERCE FOR HUEPER
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/25/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV EPET AJ TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN/AZERBAIJAN: GAC MARINE OFFERS DETAIL
ON APRIL 11 AZERI GUNBOAT EPISODE
REF: A. IIR 6 941 0063 08
B. ASHGABAT 0884
C. IIR 6 940 0006 08
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Sylvia R. Curran for reasons 1.4(B) an
d (D).
1. (C) SUMMARY: The country manager of GAC Marine, the
company that was providing towing services for the rig
intercepted by Azeri border guard vessels on April 11 told
A/DCM on July 24 that the rig and vessels were at no time
anywhere close to the median line that Azerbaijan claims at
its border. Instead, the rig, which was conducting
exploratory drilling for Petronas, and the vessels were
within block I. The country manager's story rings true (and
tracks with what our other sources have said),since neither
GAC Marine, TransOcean (which owned the rig) or Petronas
would have had anything to gain by conducting exploratory
drilling outside of block I. END SUMMARY.
2. (C) During a July 24 meeting with A/DCM, Greg Flint, the
Australian-citizen manager of GAC Marine, provided additional
information about the events on April 11 when Azeri border
guard gunboats forced a drilling rig to move position, an
incident which has created a rub in the budding relationship
between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. According to Flint, the
rig involved was the Trident-20, owned by TransOcean, which
was doing exploratory drilling for Petronas in Turkmenistan's
offshore block I. GAC Marine vessels were providing towing
services for the rig as it was moved from location to
location.
3. (C) Flint showed A/DCM the log of the GAC Marine vessels.
According to the log, the Trident-20 arrived at the SMh-1
area inside block I to do an experimental drilling on April
8. On April 10, the rig decided that the floor at that
location was too soft to drill, so the rig's legs were
reloaded and the rig, towed by GAC Marine vessels, went on to
a new site located close by (and close to but not outside of
the block I border),SMh-b. The rig put down its legs and
had started to drill on April 11 when, at 9:45 am, two Azeri
gunboats arrived and ordered the rig to stop its activity.
The GAC Marine vessels got in touch with Flint, who contacted
Turkmenistan's State Agency for Management and Use of
Hydrocarbon Resources. According to Flint, the State
Agency's head, Bayrammurat Muradov, then called the Azeri
Coast Guard.
4. (C) Flint asserted that his vessels' GPS systems showed
that they were still clearly in block I. More tellingly, he
said, the GPS locator system on the Trident-20 -- which is
much more sensitive than the GAC Marine systems due to the
need to do very precise drilling -- also placed the rig in
block I, rather than block III, waters. He showed A/DCM on a
map approximately where the Trident-20 had been located when
it was intercepted: south and west of the Livanov central
field, close to where block I borders with block III. He
said that the rig and tow vessels were in block I waters the
entire time the Trident-20 was working for Petronas. Flint
also told A/DCM that there was no Russian hydrographic
research vessel with the vessel group involved with the
Trident-20. (NOTE: According to Ref. A, the Azerbaijan
coast guard claimed that a Russian hydrographic research
vessel, "Professor Velinkov," was accompanying the
Trident-20. END NOTE.)
5. (C) COMMENT: Flint's story tallies closely with the
earlier version that post received from the Wintershall
country manager (Ref. B). Neither GAC Marine, TransOcean or
Petronas would have had anything to gain by conducting
exploratory drilling outside of block I and, in fact, would
have wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars by doing so.
All this strongly suggests that the Azeri gunboats, in fact,
may have crossed the Azeri-claimed median line and gone even
beyond the disputed block III to enter block I -- undisputed
Turkmen territory. The only outstanding question is what
might have motivated the Azeri vessels to do so. END COMMENT.
CURRAN
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, EUR/CARC, EEB
PLEASE PASS TO USTDA DAN STEIN
ENERGY FOR EKIMOFF/THOMPSON
COMMERCE FOR HUEPER
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/25/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV EPET AJ TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN/AZERBAIJAN: GAC MARINE OFFERS DETAIL
ON APRIL 11 AZERI GUNBOAT EPISODE
REF: A. IIR 6 941 0063 08
B. ASHGABAT 0884
C. IIR 6 940 0006 08
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Sylvia R. Curran for reasons 1.4(B) an
d (D).
1. (C) SUMMARY: The country manager of GAC Marine, the
company that was providing towing services for the rig
intercepted by Azeri border guard vessels on April 11 told
A/DCM on July 24 that the rig and vessels were at no time
anywhere close to the median line that Azerbaijan claims at
its border. Instead, the rig, which was conducting
exploratory drilling for Petronas, and the vessels were
within block I. The country manager's story rings true (and
tracks with what our other sources have said),since neither
GAC Marine, TransOcean (which owned the rig) or Petronas
would have had anything to gain by conducting exploratory
drilling outside of block I. END SUMMARY.
2. (C) During a July 24 meeting with A/DCM, Greg Flint, the
Australian-citizen manager of GAC Marine, provided additional
information about the events on April 11 when Azeri border
guard gunboats forced a drilling rig to move position, an
incident which has created a rub in the budding relationship
between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. According to Flint, the
rig involved was the Trident-20, owned by TransOcean, which
was doing exploratory drilling for Petronas in Turkmenistan's
offshore block I. GAC Marine vessels were providing towing
services for the rig as it was moved from location to
location.
3. (C) Flint showed A/DCM the log of the GAC Marine vessels.
According to the log, the Trident-20 arrived at the SMh-1
area inside block I to do an experimental drilling on April
8. On April 10, the rig decided that the floor at that
location was too soft to drill, so the rig's legs were
reloaded and the rig, towed by GAC Marine vessels, went on to
a new site located close by (and close to but not outside of
the block I border),SMh-b. The rig put down its legs and
had started to drill on April 11 when, at 9:45 am, two Azeri
gunboats arrived and ordered the rig to stop its activity.
The GAC Marine vessels got in touch with Flint, who contacted
Turkmenistan's State Agency for Management and Use of
Hydrocarbon Resources. According to Flint, the State
Agency's head, Bayrammurat Muradov, then called the Azeri
Coast Guard.
4. (C) Flint asserted that his vessels' GPS systems showed
that they were still clearly in block I. More tellingly, he
said, the GPS locator system on the Trident-20 -- which is
much more sensitive than the GAC Marine systems due to the
need to do very precise drilling -- also placed the rig in
block I, rather than block III, waters. He showed A/DCM on a
map approximately where the Trident-20 had been located when
it was intercepted: south and west of the Livanov central
field, close to where block I borders with block III. He
said that the rig and tow vessels were in block I waters the
entire time the Trident-20 was working for Petronas. Flint
also told A/DCM that there was no Russian hydrographic
research vessel with the vessel group involved with the
Trident-20. (NOTE: According to Ref. A, the Azerbaijan
coast guard claimed that a Russian hydrographic research
vessel, "Professor Velinkov," was accompanying the
Trident-20. END NOTE.)
5. (C) COMMENT: Flint's story tallies closely with the
earlier version that post received from the Wintershall
country manager (Ref. B). Neither GAC Marine, TransOcean or
Petronas would have had anything to gain by conducting
exploratory drilling outside of block I and, in fact, would
have wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars by doing so.
All this strongly suggests that the Azeri gunboats, in fact,
may have crossed the Azeri-claimed median line and gone even
beyond the disputed block III to enter block I -- undisputed
Turkmen territory. The only outstanding question is what
might have motivated the Azeri vessels to do so. END COMMENT.
CURRAN