Turkey: Europe’s Emerging Energy Corridor for Central Eurasian, Caucasian and Caspian Oil and Gas
Turkey: Europe’s Emerging Energy Corridor for Central Eurasian, Caucasian and Caspian Oil and Gas

Summary/Abstract: One important geopolitical consequence of the demise of the Soviet Union was the rise of intense political and commercial competition for control of the vast energy resources of the eight newly independent and vulnerable states of Central Eurasia: the sub-region of Central Asia, consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan; and the sub-region of the Caucasus, consisting of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Another effect was the change of control of the Caspian Sea basin from two littoral states, which had been the Soviet Union and Iran, to the five countries of Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. Enormous oil and natural gas reserves attracted the major actors of the world into the region, and analysts early on dubbed it a new chapter in the old “Great Game.” According to the US Energy Information Administration, the oil and natural gas reserves of these regions are significant. The proven oil reserves of five Caspian Sea Region Countries are 153.8 BBbbl, which is 14.6 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves. Their proven reserves of natural gas are 2688.3 tfc, which is almost 50 percent of the world’s proven reserves. If we include the possible reserves of the five Caspian Sea region littorals and Uzbekistan, figures reach up to 30 percent of world oil reserves and 60 percent of natural gas reserves.

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