Lots of oil in Azerbaijan, depending on what proportion of Caspian Sea resources you want to believe they have a right to (which is a VERY hot topic, BTW, for them, as well as for Iran, Russia, and Turkmenistan). Baku has been a major oil drilling and refining city for 100 years, as well as a center of other petroleum-related heavy industry (oil refinery equipment manufacturing, etc.)
http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/22_folder/22_articles/22_historyofoil.html
“The first oil well in the world was drilled in Baku in 1847 at Bibi-Eybat oil field under the direction and initiation of Russian Engineer Semenov.
Baku - Black Gold Capital of the World
In 1850, oil extraction in the world had reached about 300 tons. By 1881, it had grown to 4.4 million tons. By 1891, 22.5 million tons of which 9.5 million tons came from the US and 11.4 million tons from Russia of which 95% was extracted from Azerbaijan.
By the end of the 19th century, Baku’s fame as the “Black Gold Capital” spread throughout of the world. Skilled workers and specialists flocked to Baku. By 1900 Baku had more than 3,000 oil wells of which 2,000 of them were producing oil at industrial levels.”
http://geo.ya.com/travelimages/az-oil.html
“Azerbaijan’s has 1.2 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, as well as enormous possible reserves in undeveloped offshore Caspian fields. However production declined following Azerbaijan’s independence in 1991, falling to an estimated 180,000 bbl/d in 1997, but has known some recovery reaching almost 311,000 bbl/d in 2001. Over 80% of Azerbaijan’s oil production currently comes from offshore, with a significant percentage coming from the shallow-water section of the Gunashli field, located 100 km off the Azeri coast. Development of new fields through joint ventures and PSAs in the Caspian Sea likely will boost Azerbaijan’s oil production well beyond its earlier peak, with predictions that Azerbaijani oil exports could exceed 1 million bbl/d by 2010 and 2 million bbl/d within 20 years.
[snip]
Currently, Azerbaijan’s only export routes are the Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline (“northern route”), which sends Azeri oil to the Russian Black Sea, and the Baku-Supsa pipeline (“western route”), which mainly carries AIOC’s “early oil” from ACG to Georgia’s Black Sea coast (Batumi). Oil products such as lubricants also are exported by rail in tank wagons to Georgia’s Black Sea ports.
Exports through the northern route began at the end of 1997, while exports on the western route started 1999. AIOC expects production to peak at about 800,000 bbl/d within the next 15 years. Exporting the additional oil could require the building of a main export pipeline (MEP) with a capacity of 1 million bbl/d. Several options for routes were presented for consideration to the Azerbaijan government in 1997, including pipelines from Baku to Ceyhan (Turkey), Baku to Supsa (Georgia), and Baku to Novorosiisk (Russia) and the competing pipelines even served as inspiration for a 007 movie.
Although the Ceyhan route is not the most favourable in technical or economical terms, during years great pressure was exerted by Americans and Turks for its implementation, linking oil fields in the Caspian Sea directly with the Mediterranean. When it is built, it would provide the Turks with lucrative transit fees and aid the Americans in their bid to prevent Iran from becoming a major export route for Caspian oil, as well as limiting the Russian influence, and therefore the European influence, in the area. Finnaly on November 1999 an agreement to build the Ceyhan pipeline was signed at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe summit in Istanbul. The agreement included two pipelines ending on the Turkish coast - a seventeen hundred kilometre oil pipeline from Azerbaijan, and a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan. But disappointing oil finds in the Caspian mean that international oil companies who would be expected to foot the bill for the new route maintain that it is not yet economically viable. Work on the pipeline started in the Spring of 2003.”
A regional pipeline and transit system centred on Azerbaijan is beginning to emerge. Oil is being shipped across the Caspian from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to the port of Baku for further transhipment by rail and pipeline westward to the Black Sea. Shipping volumes have risen from 2,000 bbl/d in 1996 to 20,000 bbl/d in 1997 and an estimated 60,000 bbl/d in 1998. Shipping company Caspian Transco has been working with the Azeri government to overhaul and expand the oil terminal facilities at Dyubendi, 50 kms northeast of Baku, to allow for further increases.”
More Caucasian oil history links:
http://www.usacc.org/azerbaijan/oil-historical.htm
http://www.economy.gov.az/HTML/Investments/investment_projects_3.htm
http://www.baku.com/
http://www.bisnis.doc.gov/bisnis/country/010327azbg.htm
There’s tons more where that came from. These are just a few bits I snatched off of Google.
:eek: