ABSTRACT
The irony of the Caspian region is that despite its holding, potentially, billions of dollars’ worth of natural resources, they remained virtually unexploited and unexplored until the beginning of the last century. The political history of the Caspian Sea region from the time of Tsarist Russia is rich and complicated; privatization to nationalization back to privatization makes for a complex subject. This chapter analyses the region Eurasia as a whole, investigating exploration practices, production processes, transport issues and, the oil market in which Caspian oil is processed. It examines the role of the multinational oil companies, to show who is involved in the geopolitics of Caspian oil, and, basically, who is ‘running the show’. The supermajors were first in line, together with the state-sponsored oil companies, to start the exploration for and exportation of Caspian oil. The chapter investigates the impact of the supermajor oil companies in the ‘New Great Game’ of Caspian regional geopolitics.
