51.   Russia and Chechnya failed Monday to sign a long-awaited agreement on a key export pipeline to transport Caspian Sea oil across the breakaway republic.

52.   Russia wants the oil to be transported along an existing pipeline from Baku to its Black Sea port of Novorossisk.

53.   Russia wants the oil to be transported along an existing pipeline from the Caspian Sea port of Baku to Novorossisk on the Black Sea.

54.   So far, there have been no discussions of how the oil would be transported abroad.

55.   Small pipelines through Russia and Georgia will transport early oil.

56.   That raises the possibility that spring floods could transport more oil into the salmon-rich Pechora River, which flows into the Barents Sea, the commission said.

57.   The consortium needs the section of pipeline to transport the oil to the port of Novorossiisk, and to world markets.

58.   The consortium plans to transport oil through both.

59.   The central government wants to use the port to transport Caspian Sea oil to Europe and long has sought to increase control over Odessa.

60.   The barge was not built to transport oil and is believed to have been carrying smuggled oil from Iraq.