Roughly 800,000 displaced Azerbaijanis are living as refugees. The fortunes and misfortunes of oil make a familiar story in Baku. At the turn of the century, fields in and around the city were producing half of the world's petroleum. But the Kremlin neglected the region after World War II and focused its oil explorations on Siberia. Rows of rusted derricks now stand as a reminder of the treasure Moscow siphoned off.
Payoffs are far from certain.
The cost of refurbishing Soviet-era equipment to recover and transport oil from the sea is running two to three times the original estimates. Moving oil out of Azerbaijan isn't easy, either. The only functioning pipeline, running 850 miles north to a Russian port, must pass through strife-torn Chechnya. A pipeline through Iran would violate U.S. law. Production is starting with a mere trickle, the output of one AIOC platform.