Great Game In The Caspian Sea
The country of Azerbaijan, wholly located within the South Caspian Sea basin, is among the oldest oil producers in the world. Oil and gas development and export is central to Azerbaijan’s economic growth. The country is one of Caspian region’s most important strategic export openings to the West.
Nevertheless, the Russia-Azerbaijan partnership is equally as important to Russia.
Azerbaijan is important due to the prolific production of oil and now it has the potential to become even more important in the natural gas industry.
The Shah Deniz Consortium has signed one of the biggest deals in history. The Shah Deniz gas field will bring gas into Europe without having to depend so much on Russia and Iran.
The Shah Deniz field is operated by BP, which has a share of 25.5%, possibly making the bond with Great Britain a little stronger.
The BTU (Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan) pipeline connects Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan and Ceyhan, a port on the south-eastern Mediterranean coast of Turkey, via Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia.
It is the second-longest oil pipeline in the former Soviet Union, after the Druzhba pipeline, which happens to be one of the biggest oil pipeline networks in the world.
Turkmenistan is another area blessed with natural resources.
Turkmenistan has some of the largest natural gas reserves in the world, yet the country faces a myriad of challenges in bringing those reserves to world markets. It is geographically far from end-use markets and lacks sufficient pipeline infrastructure to export more hydrocarbons. Also, other hydrocarbon-rich Central Asian and Caspian states with more favorable investment climates and greater access to markets pose competition for Turkmenistan. The country is eager to diversify export routes for its oil and gas resources outside of the pipelines going to Russia, but must obtain capital, technical assistance, and political support for alternative pipelines.
“The main factor determining the importance of the Caspian Sea is the large deposits of oil and gas as well as rich fisheries.” The Legal Status of Caspian Sea “gains new importance and still there is no consensus.”
