From time to time, huge oil reserves are discovered, and are added to global supply reserves. In this regard, we find that the large-scale production of oil in the Middle East began shortly after WWII, though some mega fields had been discovered in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Iran before the war. In the North Sea, discoveries started being made since the mid-1960s, and high production began in the early 1970s, until it recently declined to half of its peak levels. For its part, the Caspian Sea region has been known to hold significant oil reserves since the beginning of the twentieth century. But Moscow had placed a moratorium on development of hydrocarbon fields in the countries of the Caspian, in favor of fields in Russia itself. Then shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, international oil companies scrambled to the Caspian and invested billions of dollars there. These countries began occupying an important place in the global oil industry. For example, a consortium led by Italy's Eni announced last week that production would be starting from the Kashagan field discovered in 2000, located in the north of the Caspian Sea in the waters of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Kashagan is the world's largest oil discovery outside the Middle East in the past four decades, since the discovery of the Prudhoe Bay field in Alaska. The field is estimated to hold 13 billion barrels of oil, and production is expected to reach 110,000 barrels per day this year, rising to 180,000 and then 370,000 progressively, until ultimately reaching a productive capacity of 1.6 million barrels per day (the equivalent of Libya's current maximum productive capacity). The consortium comprises the Kazakhstan government-owned company KazMunaiGaz, the U.S. group ExxonMobil, France's Total, Royal Dutch Shell, and Japan's INPEX. The consortium's companies have faced immense difficulties working together, and competed with one another over leading the project until they agreed to hand over leadership to Eni. Disputes were also aggravated as a result of a delay of about 5 years in development works, with costs ballooning by billions of dollars, reaching $41 billion. But the main reason for the delays and increased costs is the complex nature of the field itself. Pressure in the field, for instance, is very high, something that requires extra caution against oil spills in the Caspian, a sea with a unique ecosystem containing rare species of fish and other marine life. The field also contains high amounts of the toxic gas hydrogen sulfide, requiring workers to wear special masks. Oil from the Kashagan field will supply the Kazakhstan-China oil pipeline. The Chinese government acquired a $5 billion stake in the field in 2013. It is also worth mentioning that Kashagan is not the only mega oil field in Kazakhstan, with the country holding up to 30 billion barrels in oil reserves. Other important fields include Tengiz, Karachaganak, and others. Kazakhstan began oil production in 1911, and has the second highest oil reserves compared to Russia and the republics of the former Soviet Union. Kazakhstan's output in 2012 was approximately 1.6 million barrels per day. The country also sits on rich reserves of natural gas. Yet one thing that has proven to be an issue for Kazakhstan is the fact that it has no access to the open seas. This has compelled it to build costly and long pipelines to be able to export hydrocarbon. Kazakhstan is also lacking in export infrastructure. Kazakhstan has a pipeline network to carry its oil through the Black Sea and then the Mediterranean Sea, especially to Italy. The pipeline Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan is also used to export oil to Mediterranean markets (oil is transported through tankers to Azerbaijan and then through the Azerbaijan-Turkey pipeline), at a capacity of one million barrels per day. It is worth noting that the old pipeline network in the country aimed first and foremost to carry oil to the Russian pipeline network and the Russian market, which explains previous heavy reliance on Russia. Now, the plans in place seek to increase and diversify the destinations of pipelines eastward and westward. At the same time, Kazakhstan is trying to export its resources to two huge markets: Russia and China. For instance, there is the Chinese-Kazakh pipeline, with a length of 1,348 miles and a capacity of approximately 240,000 barrels per day, which is being expanded to reach 400,000 barrels per day. A gas pipeline was also built between Kazakhstan and China with a capacity of 1.4 trillion cubic feet of gas annually. The national oil company of Kazakhstan handles negotiations with international oil companies by investing in joint ventures. Given its promising reserves, investments by international oil companies in Kazakhstan have increased. The U.S. company Chevron has the largest stake in the oil sector among foreign companies, owning 50 percent of concessions in the Tengiz mega field, and 20 percent in Karachaganak. Kazakhstan also cooperates with Russian companies like Lukoil and Chinese companies through government agreements. The Caspian Sea area is characterized by its ability to export oil and gas to markets in South Asia, South East Asia, and Europe. However, this requires a very long pipeline network, and positive political relations, as the pipelines have to cross several countries, and since any negative political developments would bear on the policy of exporting oil and gas through these pipelines. It is worth noting that the policy of building long-range pipelines was initiated by the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s, in exporting gas to Europe. Today, Russia continues to rely on operating this vital network in an economical manner. Russia's gas exports to Europe never stopped because of deep political disputes and interests between the two sides, but they did stop for a very short period of time following a dispute over pricing with Ukraine, the transit country through which Russian gas is exported to Europe. * Mr. Khadduri is a consultant for MEES Oil & Gas (MeesEnergy)
