Geological Aspects of Energy and Environmental-Safety Problems in the Caspian Region

Abstract

Abstract — The paper considers the geologic structure of the region and the current problems and prospects for the development of its energy potential and environmental safety. We provide grounds for the necessity of integrated projects aimed at studying the deep structure of the Caspian region as a single object by its five coastal states: Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan. The proposed Geokhazar project is aimed at obtaining the lacking parametric geological and geophysical information about the deep subsurface structure of the water area of a sedimentary basin in the unique intracontinental catchment of the Earth. The project provides for the development of a universal prospecting concept taking into account the emplacement and conservation of hydrocarbon fields under severe thermobaric conditions at great depths and the absence of regionally consistent drainage systems; the determination of the factors influencing the nature of long- and medium-frequency eustatic fluctuations in the Caspian Sea level; and the assessment of the energy (geothermal and hydrocarbon) resources of the deep subsurface in the Caspian, cis-Caucasian–Mangyshlak, and South Caspian oil and gas provinces.