SPEAKING at the Caspian Oil and Gas Exhibit in Baku in June, Viktor Kalyuzhnyi, who is Russia's presidential envoy for Caspian issues, suggested that construction of the planned $3-billion Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum (BTE) gas-export pipeline is unnecessary. Kalyuzhnyi argued that gas from the Shah Deniz offshore Caspian field could be exported instead via the Blue Stream subsea pipeline under the Black Sea from southern Russia to Turkey. Russia began exports to Turkey via Blue Stream in late December, 2002, but the shipments have since been suspended due to a fall in domestic demand in Turkey. But US State Department special representative for the Caspian, Steven Mann, responded by saying that it is better for Azerbaijan to have its own export capacity rather than rely on pipelines monopolized by other suppliers. Mann also pointed out that Turkey supports the BTE pipeline because gas exported via that route will be cheaper than by Blue Stream.