Pipeline Architecture of the Black Sea–Caspian Sea Region: Geographical and Political Issues

Abstract

The modern pipeline architecture of the Black Sea–Caspian Sea region started shaping in late 1991 when after the breakup of the USSR the new independent states appeared on the coast of the Black and Caspian seas: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan, on the Caspian, and Ukraine and Georgia, on the Black Sea. And immediately they became the focus of attention of the leading world countries and oil and gas companies seeking implementation of new pipeline projects for hydrocarbon transit to the foreign markets.