By empty (8/30/2001 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Interior Ministry officials in Daghestan said on 29 August that an oil pipeline there burst following an explosion, Russia and Western news agencies reported. The officials said that the most likely explanation for the leak is "a terrorist act," but they indicated that it might have been caused by criminals seeking to divert oil from the pipeline without paying for it. No oil was being pumped through the pipeline at the time of the blast -- Azerbaijan had already filled its quota for August -- and as a result, there was only a minor spill of oil into the Caspian Sea.