When the Soviet Union collapsed, newly independent states appeared on the shores of the Caspian, the horizons of which have significantly widened due to the development of hydrocarbon reserves. This has been essentially promoted by the formation of export pipelines in the east-west direction. We will note that the Soviet pipeline system was created in the north-south direction and intended for managing flows of oil and gas in the interests of the entire state. As for the new hydrocarbon-rich states of the Caspian Region, changing the direction of energy flows has become a key task of their foreign and domestic policy. It is no accident that in the last 15-20 years, regional and extra-regional players have become involved in an extremely intense fight for access to the Caspian’s oil and gas, as well as actively engaged in building infrastructure for their transportation to the consumers. In the past 20 years, the Caspian countries have succeeded in forming new energy flows and their fields are capable of satisfying the growing needs of the European countries and China for oil and gas. Energy flows are irrevocably tied to the hydrocarbon resources of Kazakhstan (the das condensate field of Karachaganak), Turkmenistan (the gas field of Galkynysh) and Azerbaijan (the oil field of Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli and the gas field of Shah Deniz).
