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ABSTRACT
Until the collapse of the USSR on December 8 in 1991, the Caspian Sea was the exclusive domain of the two littoral States: Iran and the USSR. The Soviet Union de facto in control most of the Caspian Sea and had a full naval dominance. The status quo had been accepted by both states for decades, even without the details of the legal status of the Caspian Sea, neither the precise demarcation of their respective rights and interests have been formally specified in a treaty. The situation has changed since 1991, five littoral states now border the sea: Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iran, and Azerbaijan. Naturally the five concerned parties were interested to make the legal regime of the Caspian Sea clear, but finding vast reserves of oil and gas resources gave a new urgency to this legal problem. Between the five littoral states have not created the final solution. Various bilateral agreements made in the field but also a five-party agreement could not be signed yet.
The Caspian region will most likely emerge as the world’s biggest energy- producing region, and could become a major supplier of energy resources to Europe and Asia in the foreseeable future. Thus, a major political and diplomatic battle is being waged by interested countries for the exploitation and utilisation of the potential resources, and over the egress routes, to connect them with the consumer markets of Europe and Asia. Russia, the United States, China, Turkey, Georgia and Iran are some of the countries putting proposals together as to which routes for pipelines best suit the interest of the region and the world energy markets.
