ABSTRACT
Central Asia has significant proven reserves of oil (1-2 per cent of the estimated world total) and 3.8 per cent of proven gas reserves.2 It also possesses around 6 per cent of the world’s hydropower potential and 20 per cent or more of its uranium deposits. Since the Soviet Union never did a thorough assay of possible reserves, further exploration will probably increase these totals. As of now, they are approximately the same as the figures for the North Sea, although logistical, technical, financial, and political problems make it improbable that Central Asian sales will exceed those of Norway or the United Kingdom within the coming decades. Rather, according to a well-known expert, Caspian oil production (which includes Azerbaijan) by 2010 might optimistically total 60 per cent of the North Sea current contribution to global oil use. Predicted gas production in 2010 might reach 210 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year, about 2-3 per cent of world consumption.
