Lack of Export Insfrastructure Hinders Kazakhstan’s Bid to Become Oil Power

ASTANA, Kazakhstan — Kazakhstan, with its vast reserves of hydrocarbons, is on a path to become a petro-power on a global scale. That, at least, is the plan of the Kazakh government, oil companies with access to the rich oil fields of Kazakhstan, and those seeking alternatives to OPEC oil. However, as oil production in the landlocked country increases in the years ahead, Kazakhstan could find itself without viable export routes to bring its hydrocarbon wealth to market.

As the two major Kazakh oil fields, Tengiz and Karachaganak, are about to reach peak production at the beginning of the next decade, and the Kashagan oil field is expected to begin commercial production in 2013, it is clear that current pipeline capacity will be insufficient. This has been a concern for quite a while, as Kazakhstan’s unique geography as the largest land-locked country in the world, surrounded by a potentially unstable mix of neighbors like Russia, Iran and Uzbekistan, clearly leaves exporters with limited options.

World Politics Review