Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr S. Aliyev, V. Sharifov / It was reported by the 'Annual Energy Report 2007' developed by the Energy Information Administration, independent agency at the US Energy Ministry that the energy consumption in the world within next 25 years will rise by 60%.
The increase will be caused mainly by the growth of the Asian countries markets, primarily China and India. Prices for oil will allegedly reach $60 per barrel by 2030. As a result of the increase in consumption within these countries, they will look towards the Caspian region energy suppliers.
Opening of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline has stimulated new investments to Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. "Oil production in these two countries will increase by over 1mln barrels by 2010," the report stated. Oil production in Azerbaijan will increase owing to the economic attraction of the projects due to the high prices for oil. Oil production in the country in 2010 is expected to rapidly increase by 1.2mln barrels.
Access of Kazakhstan to BTC will enable the country to lower its charges for hydrocarbons export. Kazakhstan Government has announced its goal to achieve 3.5mln barrels of oil every 24 hours by 2015.