The sums involved — close to $45 billion — and prospects for new sources of gas and oil are both impressive and irrelevant, depending on one’s perspectives and what has happened elsewhere in the Caspian region.
In the very shallow waters of the northern Caspian off Kazakhstan, there is the massive Kashagan oilfield development. Here, the figures are even more stupendous — an eventual output of about 1 million barrels per day at a cost that looks like twice that required for Shah Deniz 2.
South
