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Azerbaijan
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Azerbaijan is located on the western side of the Caspian
Sea, and lies between Russia to the north and Iran to the south, is one of
the worlds oldest oil producing countries. With an oil boom in the
early 20th century this former Soviet Republic was producing 500,000
barrels per day during WWII. Production declined until the early
1990's when several multinational companies went to Azerbaijan to tap into
the 1.2 billion barrels of proven reserves and a huge amount of possible
reserves.
Currently, Azerbaijan gets 80% of its oil production from
off shore drilling. For 2002, Azerbaijan's production of oil has
remained stable at 310,200 bbl/d. To achieve this type of oil
production, Azerbaijan has signed 21 field agreements with 33 companies
from 15 countries, with British Petroleum being the largest. In 1994
BP signed a 8 billion dollar, 30 year contract to develop 3 off shore
fields which are expected to peak at 1 million bbl/d in 2010. (http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/azerbjan.html)
Kazakstan
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Kazakstan is the 5th largest country in the world land
mass. In 1991 Kazakhstan was producing
over a half a million barrels of oil a day, making it the 2nd largest
producer in the former Soviet Union behind Russia. With 5.4 bbl of
proven oil reserves and another 92 bbl of possible reserves,
Kazakstan
has the largest amount of oil amongst the 5 countries in the Caspian
Basin. It opened its doors to foreign oil companies in 1992 after
the collapse of the Soviet Union
Oil production has increased significantly in Kazakstan
from 530,000 bbl/d in 1992 to 810,00 bbl/d in 2001. To date in 2002
the production has averaged 892,000 bbl/d. There is now slow down in
sight and production is expected to reach 1.2 million barrels a day by
2005 and to 2.5 million barrels a day by 2015.
The majority of this production will come from three major
fields: Tergiz, Karachaganak, and Kashagan. The off shore field of
Kashagan may hold up to 50 bbl of oil making it the 2nd largest oil field
in the world. In 1993 Cheveron Texaco made a 20 billion dollar
agreement to develop the Tergiz Field. Currently the field is
producing a little over 250,000 bbl/d.
The Kashagan offshore field, discovered by Agip out of
Italy in 2001, is the newest discovery and holds the greatest amount of
oil potential. This field is due to produce 100,00 bbl/d in its
first stages of development. "Kashagan", says Paul Brown (The
Guardian), "in which British Gas and Shell have 16.6% states, is
poised to bring an end to the dominance in oil supply held by OPEC and the
Middle East." ExxonMobil and TotalFinaElf are also big name oil
companies working on the Kashagan field. (http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/kazak.html)
Iran
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Iran's economy relies heavily on oil exports. The
revenues it brings in are around 80% of the total export earnings, 40-50%
of the Governments budget, and 10-20% of the GNP. Iran holds 90
billion barrels , about 9% of the worlds total, of proven oil
reserves. Since 1995 there have numerous large discoveries of oil in
Iran. In 1999 Iran announced that it had made the largest discovery
of oil in 30 years with a huge find in a giant off shore field called
Azadegan. The majority of Iran's oil comes from the south western
region near the Iraqi border and the Persian Gulf. Much of the land
and oil fields was one factor in the heavy fighting during the Iran and
Iraq war.
Iran does have its own Caspian Sea reserves, 15 billion
barrels of oil and 11 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Almost
none of this reserve has been found to be recoverable as of late. In
march of 2001 there was a 226-million dollar agreement with the Swedish
company, GVA
Consultants, and the Iranian company, Sadra, to build an oil rig in the Caspian Sea.
Iran's major role in the Caspian Sea is that it acts as a transit center
for other countries oil and natural exports form the Caspian Sea
area. There is a limit on how much U.S. companies can invest in
Iranian oil programs. This limit is set by the U.S. Iran-Libya
Sanctions Act of 1996, the limit is 20 million dollars annually.
(http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/iran.html)
Russia
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Energy account for 40% of Russia's exports and 13% of the
GDP. There are 48.6 billion barrels of proven oil reserves that lie
in numerous fields throughout West Siberia, Timan-Pechora, East Siberia,
the north Caspian Sea, and Sakhalin Island. Russian oil companies
say that there are many remote unexplored regions, and once explored they
will dramatically raise the countries hydrocarbon supply. The
northern Caspian Sea region contains 10 billion barrels of proven
oil reserves alone.
Russia was once the worlds largest oil producer, at 12.5
million barrels a day in 1988. After the break up of the Soviet
Union, Russia's oil production began to fall. Over the past few
years the Russian oil has made a comeback due to large foreign
investments, and in 2001 became the 2nd largest oil producing company in
the world, producing 7.29bbl/d. (http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/russia.html) |