Prospects of Central Asian Markets for Russian Oil Companies

This article is devoted to the current state of the oil sector in the Central Asian countries and an assessment of the prospects of their markets for expanding the presence of Russian companies. The author highlights the main factors that determine the current situation in the oil producing and refining industries in the region: the overall availability of energy resources in general and crude oil in particular, property rights to oil producing and refining enterprises and operating oil pipelines, as well as international agreements in this area concluded over the past five years. The article substantiates the conclusion that today the potential of the region as a transport and logistics corridor and a center for oil production and refining remains largely untapped. In this regard, for Russian companies, the greatest interest lies in measures to establish control over pipelines from countries focused on the export of oil and oil products (Kazakhstan and, to a lesser extent, Turkmenistan) and to strengthen the presence in the domestic markets of those countries that focus on importing energy resources (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan) by creating their own transport and refinement infrastructure.