№ 5 (49), 2011 - KazEnergy

expert opinionKazakhstan motivesof Arabian GulfTby Yuri Sigov,Washingtonhe high level oil prices combinedwith the continuingpolitical instability in severalcountries of the MiddleEast and North Africa makemore urgent the need forclose cooperation betweenthe countries-exporters of"black gold" which remainunaffected to global crises.Although, such countriesmay differ quite substantiallyboth in area and population, as wellas in economic and technical potential, theircooperation in the field of energy would notonly bring good dividends to themselves, butalso play an important role in stabilizing theworld oil and gas markets, and help to avoidthe crisis for those, who still imports significantvolumes of energy sources.These mutually beneficial prospects includethe expansion of energy cooperation betweenCentral Asian countries, especially Kazakhstan,with the states of the Arabian (Persian)Gulf, that are being very close to oneanother in geographical sense, however, untilrelatively recent time they have showedmutual interest only indirectly.Coordination of international oil prices ispossible even without being in the OPECIt is known that Kazakhstan is among thetop ten countries of the world on oil reserves,and in Central Asia Kazakhstan plays a keyrole in supplying "black gold" through Russianterritory to the North as well as to theWest across the Caspian Sea and Azerbaijanto the European markets, and also eastwardsto China.According to the strategic plans of its economicdevelopment Kazakhstan in the nextfive years will increase export of oil (over20 years of independence, oil production inKazakhstan has tripled, and natural gas increasedup to five times), thereby being oneof the few regions of the world where it willbe possible to increase production volumeswhen it falls in a number of present leadingexporting countries of the "black gold".In addition, for the end of 2012 Kazakhstanis planning to begin industrial oil extractionat Kashagan - the largest field on theCaspian, making the republic one of the keyplayers in the oil production and oil exportsnot only regionally, but also globally.The gas supplies from Kazakhstan abroadalso will be expanded, plus Astana will playan increasingly important role as transitcountry on natural gas supplies from Turkmenistan,and in perspective – Azerbaijan’ssupplies to the western regions of China.All of this cannot help attracting an interestfrom the Arab Gulf countries, which playa leading role in world energy markets andvenues, and at the same time they are interestedin the coordination of policies tomaintain high prices for energy resourceswith those who supply them to major world86 № 5 (49), 2011