THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ESTABLISHING COMMON EAEU GAS, OIL AND PETROLEUM PRODUCT MARKETS FOR THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN
Abstract
As the migration processes gain momentum in the Central Asian region, cooperation within the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU, established in 2014) is becoming increasingly more poignant. Currently comprising five states (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia), this regional organization has become a platform for cooperation in virtually all the economy sectors, including the power sector. Common oil, petroleum product, and gas markets are being established to ensure the integrative association provides the “free movement of goods, services, capital, and labor.”
Since the Republic of Kazakhstan is currently one of the world leaders in hydrocarbon resources, the key issue is for its energy resources to gain access to external markets. Given the country’s geographical location and the historically determined transportation routes, the principal oil pipeline systems traverse the territory of the Russian Federation. After the disintegration of the U.S.S.R., the independent countries of Central Asia, particularly their natural resources, have attracted the attention of world powers, simultaneously becoming a place of conflict of interests. To preserve stability in the region, and as a consequence, to ensure the status of a Eurasian transit traffic channel, the Central Asian republics are not only modernizing the existing communications but are also implementing alternative infrastructure projects.
Despite the foreign political interest in the Central Asian region and the Central Asian countries’ interest in cooperation with leading powers, Russia considers the independent republics to be within its influence sphere, preserving strong economic and political connections with them.
Numerous attempts at integration of post-Soviet countries have been made since the early 1990s in the framework of establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Eurasian Economic Community, and the Customs Union. However, the EAEU is currently the most efficient organization, furnished with the required regulatory framework and articulated strategic goals.
The paper describes the stages and premises of the establishment of transportation routes in the Central Asian region, including Kazakhstan, their impact on gaining guaranteed access to the operating systems and route diversification, as well as the significance that cooperation in the energy sphere in the EAEU framework holds for Kazakhstan. The legal foundation being created aims to ensure guaranteed access to infrastructure systems, non-discriminatory trade, access to the common energy resource market, and tariff transparency.
Time will tell how the concluded agreements will be implemented, but Kazakhstan currently possesses a tangible chance of realizing its energy potential within the EAEU framework.
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References
The data provided by ВР Statistical Review of World Energy 2018, available at [www.bp.com].
The data provided by JSC Oil and Gas Information-Analytical Center, available at [http://www.iacng.kz].
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See: Upravlenie gruzovoi i kommercheskoi rabotoi na mezhdunarodnom transporte, ed. by A. Smekhov, Moscow,1990, p. 13.
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See: Sovremennaia geogra¿ia mirovogo khoziaistva, ed. by M. Rozin, W. Wolf, and L. Vasilevskiy, Moscow, 1977,pp. 266-267.
Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea (full text), Art 14, Point 1, 12 August, 2018, available at [http://
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Ibid., Art 14, Point 2.
See: Decision of the Eurasian Economic Community’s Interstate Council of 9 December, 2010, No. 65, available at [https://docs.eaeunion.org/ru], 24 December, 2018.
Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union, Art 4, available at [https://www.un.org/en/ga/sixth/70/docs/treaty_on_
eu.pdf].
Ibid., Art 79.
See: Decisions of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council of 6 December, 2018, No. 23, web site of the Eurasian Economic Comission [http://www.eurasiancommission.org].
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