Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 10 / Trend A.Badalova /
Russia's business lags in realization of the behind business partners of the Caspian countries to develop hydrocarbon resources in the region, oil and gas production which has grown several times over the past 10 years by the discovery of large offshore fields.
"We had had to invest in the development of fields in the Caspian region,' Oil and Gas Producers Union Chairman Yuri Shafranik said in an interview to the Echo Planeti magazine.
According to him, if in the 1990 years there was a need to invest $2-3 billion in the Turkmen, Kazakh and Azerbaijani projects, now this amount has increased by 3-4 times.
"We must be present in the Caspian region, which - thanks to investment - is favorable to our neighbors also," he added.
Recently, hydrocarbon production in the Caspian Sea has increased, particularly thanks to Azerbaijan's developing the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field in the Caspian oil fields, whose reserves are estimated at seven billion barrels, and the Shah Deniz gas condensate field, whose reserves exceed one trillion cubic meters. It is expected to launch developing a major Kazakh oil field Kashagan, part of the oil from which will be exported to world markets via Azerbaijan, in the near future.
The role of the Caspian Sea in ensuring global energy demand may increase in several years due to implementation of the "Stage-2" of the Shah Deniz project and construction of new pipelines in the "Southern Corridor". In particular, managing director of marketing company Nabucco Pipeline Gas int. Reinhard Mitchek believes that the Caspian region can provide transportation of 50-60 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe.
The U.S. forecasts that oil production by Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan will increase up to 4.6 million barrels a day by 2030 compared to 2.3 million barrels per day in 2006. Based on the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) forecasts, in 2030 the largest increase in oil production will be observed in Kazakhstan. EIA predicts by 2030, Kazakhstan's oil production to reach from 2.9 million barrels per day (at high prices for oil) to 3.9 million barrels per day (under low oil prices).
Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at: [email protected]