ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the domestic interaction of oil and power in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. It follows by analysis of the changing roles of the oil producers within their region, with countries beyond the region, and in the global economic and political system. In all three countries, the political system concentrates power in the hands of the president. Before 1990 the Caspian Basin was not an important oil-producing region and the Caspian Sea was divided between the Soviet Union and Iran. The modern Caspian oil industry dates from the Tengiz agreement signed between Chevron and the USSR in 1990, the largest foreign investment deal in Soviet history. Under Turkmenbashi, increasing energy-driven wealth had minimal impact on Turkmenistan's international relations. The counterpart to the autocratic President's complete autonomy in domestic policymaking was a foreign policy of neutrality, based on aversion to any foreign interference.
