КАСПИЙ: ОСОБЕННОСТИ НЕДРОПОЛЬЗОВАНИЯ И ВОПРОСЫ ГЕОПОЛИТИКИ

Abstract

Consideration of the issue of the legal status of the Caspian Sea seems very relevant both from the social and political point of view and from the point of view of the organization of subsoil use. Today, the Caspian hydrocarbon reserves are estimated at about 3% of the total world reserves, which makes this region a place of attraction for many subsoil users, as well as a place of clash of private and public, as well as interstate interests. It is the study of interrelations and mutual influences of socio-economic and mineral components in this region that is most important for understanding the system of relations in the region and their forecasts. The aim is to analyze retrospectively the formation of common rules of relations in the Caspian region and determine the role of the mineral factor in them. The basis for writing the article was a review and comparison of publicly available domestic and foreign literary sources concerning both the question of the right status of the Caspian Sea and the features of subsoil use in the Caspian Sea, as well as a critical analysis of regulations. The sources were sampled taking into account the time period from 2000 to 2020. Among the features of subsoil use in the Caspian Sea were identified and described physical-geographical, primarily climatic, geological, engineering-geological and ecological features. When considering the chronology of the solution of the «Caspian issue», close attention was paid to the characteristics of the Caspian summits and the main events associated with the intensification of subsoil use in the Caspian Sea. In particular, the events related to the laying of oil pipelines by Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, the participation of large energy companies in the development of fields, the contradictions that have arisen between countries on the basis of subsoil use were considered. In addition, the key provisions of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea adopted in 2018 were considered. The main thing that the retrospective analysis has shown is that the role of the mineral factor in the formation of relations in the Caspian region is enormous. It can be considered one of the main reasons for long, hesitant steps (which took more than 20 years) on the way to solving the issue of the legal status of the Caspian Sea. At the same time, it should be recognized that even the adopted Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea has not been able to fully resolve the problem of subsoil use in this region, which gives an impulse to search for new ideas in solving this problem