Connect with us

Economy

EIA: Caspian Sea could become Europe’s preferred alternative for gas

SHARE:

Published

11 years ago

on

The Caspian Sea region, which includes Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Iran, is one of the oldest oil producers. However, despite being a traditional oil producer, the Caspian area’s importance as a natural gas producer is increasing rapidly.

The Caspian region may hold as much as 48 billion barrels of oil and 292 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Now it seems that area’s future is linked with natural gas. Offshore fields account for 41% of total Caspian crude oil and lease condensate (19.6 billion barrels) and 36% of natural gas (106 Tcf), according to data provided by Energy Information Administration (EIA). In 2012, Caspian area produced 2.8 Tcf of natural gas, with large amounts reinjected back into fields or flared. The great amount and diffuse nature of Caspian natural gas reserves is an evidence of significant future growth in production, which could transform the Caspian Sea area into a natural gas hub. Azerbaijan represents an important regional natural gas producer with the start of production in the Shah Deniz field in 2006. In June this year, a BP-led consortium operating in the Shah Deniz natural gas field in the Caspian Sea opted for a pipeline that could redraft the European energy map.

Since 2006, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have soared natural gas production in and around the region, where coastal countries extracted a total 2.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in 2011, up from about 1.25 trillion cubic feet in 2000 and about 1.75 trillion in 2006. Other prospects for natural gas production growth include Russia’s North Caucasus region, and Turkmenistan’s Galkynysh field, which was estimated in 2009 to be the fourth largest natural gas field in the world. In 2012, the Caspian Sea was the world’s seventh-biggest spot for both undiscovered oil and natural gas, with about 20 billion barrels of undiscovered oil and 243 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered natural gas, according to EIA.

EnergyMarketPrice.com RSS.

Share this article:

Related Topics:
EU Reporter publishes articles from a variety of outside sources which express a wide range of viewpoints. The positions taken in these articles are not necessarily those of EU Reporter.
Advertisement

Trending