The International Energy Agency (IEA) warned on Tuesday that the conflict in Georgia threatens a strategic world global energy region. Just hours before, British oil giant British Petroleum closed two more oil and gas pipelines blaming the smoldering conflict.

“Recent escalation in military engagement between Russia and Georgia poses a threat to certain key oil and gas pipelines which transit Georgia,” the IEA said. Meanwhile, Georgia claimed Russian aircraft had attacked the region’s main oil transportation vein known as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline but did not know if any damage had been done.

The BTC pipline, which usually carries up to a million barrels of oil a day westward from the Caspian Sea through Georgia and Turkey to the Mediteranian port of Ceyhan, was closed last week after a blast in a pump at a section located inside Turkey.

On Tuesday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev  ordered a halt to Moscow’s military offensive. BP, however, closed the Baku-Supsa oil and South Caucasus gas pipelines later in the day. Russia denied deliberately targeting the BTC conduit.