Enjoyed this interesting analysis of the Caspian pipeline wars. We have discussed the Trans-Caspian Pipline Project in earlier posts but, in this report, John C. K. Daly takes a close look at Azerbaijan’s future promise and potential perils related to the development of its oil and natural gas resources.

Was particularly interested in some of the additional projects under consideration in Baku, including a proposed 190-mile pipeline to northwest Iran and the proposed 6.74 billion 2,485-mile Nabucco natural gas pipeline project, endorsed on June 26 in Vienna by the energy ministers of Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Turkey and European Union Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs.

Will watch the evolution of such and may need to develop a Google Earth geospatial analysis of these various pipeline projects. Clearly, interest in the Caspian Basin’s energy potential (estimates below) is going to continue to grow in the months/years ahead.

“…In May 2007 the U.S. Energy Information Administration projected that by 2015 Caspian basin energy production could reach 4.3 million barrels per day, concluding that in addition to the region’s proven reserves of 17 billion to 49 billion barrels, comparable to Qatar at the lower estimate and Libya on the high end. The region could contain an additional reservoir of hydrocarbons up to 235 billion barrels of oil, roughly equivalent to a quarter of the Middle East’s total proven reserves….

The Caspian’s potential natural gas reserves are as large as the region’s proven gas reserves and could yield another potential 328 trillion cubic feet of gas.”