眠りからさめたカスピ海 中央アジアに巨大油・ガス田を求めて

Abstract

The oil and gas exploration in the Caspian Sea region has been one of the main focuses of the petroleum industry ever since the newly formed republics of the former Soviet Union opened their doors to western oil companies early this decade. The hydrocarbon potential of the region is extremely high, with expected so called “elephant” (super giant) oil and gas fields. However, it is fact that there are a lot of difficulties involving unregulated oil laws and unstability of tax regulation. Therefore it is widely believed that the Central Asia region, including the Caspian Sea has high hydrocarbon potential, but with high country risks.The Caspian Sea is divided into three sedimentary basins; the north Caspian basin, central Caspian basin, and south Caspian basin. Each sedimentary basin has different basin character and play type. The main exploration target in the north Caspian basin is pre-salt Carboniferous carbonate and the central Caspian basin's main target is Mesozoic clastics. The south Caspian basin's upper Tertiary is main producing horizon and is characterized by folding structures with shale diapir and fault.JNOC has been carrying out a basic study of the region for the last ten years and geological & geophysical survey projects were commenced in 1994 and 1997 respectively in onshore Kazakhstan. In Azerbaijan, JNOC and private Japanese firms carried out a joint geological study in Caspian Sea, and negotiations for a PSA are presently underway with SOCAR.