The guarantees for equipment sales to rehabilitate old Russian oil wells took years to negotiate and required an unprecedented exemption from the World Bank's liens on Russia's resources. At the time, Moscow was defaulting on other loans, and there were similar objections that the oil program could not be justified as a sound business decision. But the U.S. showed its overwhelming political will in pushing the program despite all obstacles. In the end, the agreements were signed but the credits went virtually unused for years. There may now be a similar scheme by governments for the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline.
Political momentum seems likely to replace oil production as the project's driving force.