Kazakh expert warns Caspian infrastructure void fuels regional crisis

The lack of pipelines across the Caspian seabed remains a key problem for Central Asian countries amid global instability.

This concern was voiced by a Kazakh expert speaking during a panel discussion at the international conference "C6: One Region, Shared Future – Enhancing Strategic Dialogue" in Baku, Caliber.Az reports citing local media.

According to Sultan Akimbekov, the Director of the Institute of Asian Studies of Kazakhstan, this problem is largely linked to Russia's stance, which opposed the construction of pipelines across the Caspian Sea.

"We don't have this [type of] oil pipeline, which is why we've had problems with the Caspian Pipeline Consortium [CPC] since the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Turkmenistan also doesn't have a gas pipeline, although such discussions have been very active," he noted.

The expert emphasised that the C6 format, which entails all five Central Asian republics as well as Azerbaijan, could become one possible direction for the development of transport corridors.

"Following the recent attacks on the CPC terminals, Kazakhstan faces a very serious crisis, which we cannot currently address through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan route, as we lack the necessary transport capacity across the Caspian to resolve this issue," Akimbekov stated.

He added that the main security challenges for the C6 countries stem from the complex geopolitical situation surrounding the Caspian Sea.

"Many of today's problems stem from the unsettled status of the Caspian Sea and the complex geopolitics associated with the struggle for influence between Russia and the United States," the Kazakh expert highlighted

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) is a pipeline system that transports crude oil from the Tengiz oil field in western Kazakhstan to the Russian port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea. It was established in 1992 by oil companies from Russia, Kazakhstan, and other international partners and is governed through two legal entities: CPC-Kazakhstan and CPC-Russia. Major stakeholders include Russia’s Transneft (24%), Kazakhstan’s KazMunayGas (19%), and global energy giants such as Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Shell.

By Nazrin Sadigova