By ANNE GEARAN
AP Diplomatic Writer


WASHINGTON (AP) -- There's more than meets the eye to the frantic U.S. efforts Friday to talk Russia and U.S. ally Georgia out of war over an obscure mountain tract most Americans have never heard of.

A look at the map and your gas credit card bill shows why.
South Ossetia is claimed by Georgia, the former Soviet republic that cast its lot with the United States and the West to the eternal irritation of Moscow. The breakaway province has been under Russia's sway for years.

Georgia sits in a tough neighborhood, shoulder to shoulder with huge Russia, not far from Iran, and astride one of the most important crossroads for the emerging wealth of the rich Caspian Sea region. A U.S.-backed oil pipeline runs through Georgia, allowing the West to reduce its reliance on Middle Eastern oil while bypassing Russia and Iran.

The dispute makes the Bush administration the middleman between a promising ally it wants to help and the powerful former adversary next door whose help it needs.

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Turkey pipeline repairs may take over 2 weeks
~snip~
The $4 billion BTC pipeline pumps the equivalent of more than 1 percent of world supply from fields in the Azeri sector of the Caspian Sea to Ceyhan on the Turkish Mediterranean coast.

Longer than expected

The biggest hindrance to firefighting efforts has been oil that has settled in the pipeline since flow was stopped on Tuesday. A second Botas source said the fire was expected to be put out on Saturday.

"The fire is continuing, but has weakened since yesterday ... It is expected to be put out today, but it is taking longer than expected to extinguish," the source told Reuters.

High level officials from the BTC consortium have arrived in the province of Erzincan, where the fire is burning, to examine the condition of the pipeline and discuss how to act, he said.

BP owns 30.1 percent of BTC, while Azeri state oil company Socar holds 25 percent. Other shareholders include U.S. companies Chevron and ConocoPhillips, Norway's StatoilHydro, Italy's ENI and France's Total.

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