"President Aliyev stood on an oil rig in the Caspian Sea and daubed his face with oil. All around him heads of state, politicians and smiling oil executives were doing the same. They were celebrating in traditional style the start of what many people believe will be an oil boom to match that of the Middle East. Azerbaijan's oil is now flowing from the Chirag offshore platform, through a pipeline into neighbouring Russia. A huge consortium of international companies has taken part in what's known here as the contract of the century -- an $8 billion dollar deal to extract oil from three new fields. President Aliyev and the American energy secretary, Frederico Pena, both hailed today's official celebrations as a milestone in the development of the giant Caspian Sea basin. Few people believed Azerbaijan would ever make it this far. The former Soviet republic lies in one of the world's most turbulent regions. It has been crippled by wars and rebellions. Russia, Iran, Turkey and the United States are all competing aggressively for influence here. Azerbaijan's president is widely credited with steering his country thorugh this political minefield, but there are still big challenges ahead. An ugly row is brewing between Russia and the West over who should control the export pipeline for Azerbaijani oil. A decision on the route will be taken next year. Azerbaijan and the United States are backing a westerly route through Georgia and Turkey, but the Russian deputy prime minister, Boris Nemtsov, today accused Washington of playing political games. Mr Nemtsov said the decision should be taken on purely economic grounds and that the Russian route was the most attractive one."