New Transport Routes for Oil- and Gas Export out the Caspian Area – Will this Area Become Crucial for the European Energy Supply?

During the last two decades significant oil and gas reserves have been proven in the countries of the Caspian area, partially already developed. There are some very large oil and gas pro-duction projects under construction or in the planning phase, for example, the Kashagan oil field or gas fields of Turkmenistan. Against this background it is expected that Kazakhstan will double its oil production in the next 10 years to approximately 200 million tons per year and Turkmenistan will also enormously increase its gas production. In parallel to the field develop-ments, pipeline export routes to all potential markets in particular to Europe, Russia and China as well as to ports which allow access to international markets are under evaluation. The com-petition for these resources and its export routes is vehemently pushed by China, demon-strated for example by the “Kazakhstan – China Oil Pipeline” and the “Trans–Asia–Gas Pipe-line” transporting gas from Turkmenistan via Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to China.

Pipelines are the backbone of these transport routes, supplemented with ship and rail transport for oil. ILF Beratende Ingenieure GmbH is involved in many of these pipeline projects and in the development of export strategies for European, American, Russian, Central Asian and Chinese customers. In this role, ILF has a comprehensive understanding of the relevant infra-structural framework of each country.