THE POLITICS OF CASPIAN REGION ENERGY RESOURCES: A CHALLENGE FOR TURKISH FOREIGN POLICY

THE POLITICS OF CASPIAN REGION ENERGY RESOURCES: A CHALLENGE FOR TURKISH FOREIGN POLICY

Following the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Caspian region, with its rich hydrocarbon reserves, assumed great significance in the energy politics of the regional states and the global actors. Coupled with the landlocked nature of the Caspian region, the development of trans-national export pipelines to transport oil and gas from the Caspian caused competition both between companies over the contracts and between states over the final export routes. The high stakes led to the struggle being labeled the ‘New Great Game’, the main actors of which are the newly independent states of the Caucasus and Central Asia Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan , Russia, the United States, Iran, Turkey and some international oil firms

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  • ‘Export Route Progress’, Petroleum Economist, Vol. 68, No. 5, May 2001, pp. 39-40.
  • Frantz, Douglas, ‘Chevron Talks to Azerbaijanis about the Pipeline’, New York Times, 10 February , p. 5. Ignatius, David, ‘Dick Cheney and the ‘Great Game’’, Washington Post, 27 August 2000, p. B07.
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  • US Energy Information Administration, International Energy Outlook 2000. See Table 1.
  • US Energy Information Administration, International Energy Outlook 2000.
  • Caspian Sea Region, Energy Information Administration, June 2000. See; http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/caspian.html.
  • Mustafa Aydın, New Geopolitics of Central Asia and the Caucasus: Causes of Instability ad Predicament, SAM Papers No: 2/2000, p. 61. Ibid., p. 7.
  • Gareth Winrow, Turkey and the Caucasus: Domestic Interests and Security Concerns, Central Asian and Caucasian Prospects, Royal Institute of International Affairs, 2000, pp. 46-47.
  • Rosemarie Forsythe, ‘The Politics of Oil in the Caucasus and Central Asia’, Adelphi Paper 300, IISS, 1996, pp. 13-14.
  • ‘Export Route Progress’, Petroleum Economist, Vol. 68, No. 5, May 2001, p. 40. R. Forsythe, op. cit., pp. 17-20.
  • Christopher Pala, ‘US Urges Kazakhstan to Bypass Russia’s Pipes”, Moscow Times, 14 June , p. 5. R. Forsythe, op. cit., p. 23. Ibid., pp. 23-25. Ibid., pp. 26-27. Necdet Pamir, Dünyada ve Türkiye’de Enerji Güvenliği (Energy Security in the World and in Turkey), ASAM Papers, 19 March 2001, p. 1.
  • The Ankara Agreement was signed by Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkey and Uzbekistan with Turkmenistan in abstention. Turkmenistan signed a bilateral agreement with Turkey afterwards. Charles Coe, ‘Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline Project Moves Forward as SOCAR, BP-Amoco Reach Agreement’, Alexander’s Gas and Oil Connections, Company News: Central Asia, Vol. 5, No. 20, 1 November 2000. See; http:www.gasandoil.com/goc/company/cnc04439.htm.
  • ‘Chevron Confirms Interest in Financing Study for Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline’, Oil and Gas Journal Exchange, 18 April 2001. See; http://auction.ogjpropertyexchange.com/p…/displayNews.jsp?NEWS_ID=1265. N. Pamir, 2001, op. cit., p. 5.
  • Such as the support given by Chevron: ‘Chevron Confirms Interest in Financing Study for Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline’, Oil and Gas Journal Exchange, 18 April 2001.
  • See; http://auction.ogjpropertyexchange.com/p…/displayNews.jsp?NEWS_ID=1265.
  • Experts confirm that the underlying reason behind such support relates to the corporate interests of Chevron for a gas deal with Turkey, which has a considerable domestic demand for gas. In terms of its domestic energy needs, Turkey needs to import gas 45bn cm in 2005, 55bn cm in and 82bn cm in 2020.
  • Exploration-development-transportation-distribution-marketing. N. Pamir, 2001, op. cit., p. 5.