Giant oil pipeline opens

Officials inaugurated the first section of a 1,100-mile, US-backed pipeline today that will bring Caspian Sea oil to Western markets, a project seen as an economic and political boon for the troubled Caucasus region.

The presidents of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Turkey were on hand for the ceremony at the Sangachal oil terminal, about 25 miles south of Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, to open the taps for the first drops of oil to enter the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.