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Eastern Caspian

21

Environment and Security

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(Akiner, 2004). The same period saw at-

tempts to extract oil on the Caspian coast

of Turkmenistan on the Cheleken peninsula

and at Krasnovodsk (now Turkmenbashy).

In 1991 Caspian oil production represented

only 3% of total output in the USSR (Djalili

and Kellner, 2003: 186). In global terms the

importance of other regions such as the

Middle East overshadowed the Caspian

as an oil producing region for a long time.

However, in the last decade, the situation

has changed.

Current oil estimates for the five states range

from 17 to 49 billion barrels (bbl) of proven

reserves (Ladaa, 2005; EIA, 2007; BP 2008).

Globally the region’s reserves represent

between 3 to 5% of world reserves. As for

natural gas, proven reserves in the Caspian

region are estimated at 5.9 trillion cubic me-

tres, comparable to Saudi Arabia with pos-

sible reserves estimated at 7.2 trillion cubic

metres (BP 2008). At the end of 2007 Kaza-

khstan’s proven oil reserves were estimated

at 39.8 bbl (3.2% of world’s reserves) and

Turkmenistan’s at 0.6 bbl (BP 2008).

The frenzy surrounding the region’s oil

and gas reserves that characterized much

of the 1990s, is somewhat tempered by

an analysis of production figures. In 2006

regional oil production reached roughly

2.3 million barrels a day, comparable to

Brazil, South America’s second largest

oil producer. By 2010 the EIA expects the

countries of the Caspian region to produce