Exploitation and use of oil and gas resources in the Caspian sea: legal aspects

Features of the legal regime of subsoil use, oil and gas activities in the Caspian Sea are due to the special international legal status of the Caspian Sea. The Russian Federation is faced with strategic tasks for the development of energy resources on the Russian section of the Caspian seabed, the development of maritime transport and research fleet, the modernization and construction of seaports and terminals in the Caspian. They are defined in the Energy Strategy of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2035, the Strategy for the development of maritime activities in the Russian Federation until 2030, the Strategy for the development of Russian seaports in the Caspian basin, rail and road approaches to them in the period up to 2030. The fulfillment of these tasks largely depends on the effectiveness of Russian legislation in this area. The development of Russian legislation governing the exploration and exploitation of oil and gas resources in the Russian section of the Caspian seabed is directly related to the trends in the development of international legal regulation of the status of the Caspian Sea and cooperation of the Caspian states in this area. After the ratification of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea of 2018 by Russia, the Government of the Russian Federation took global steps to implement norms reflecting the special status of the Caspian Sea, sovereignty and sovereign rights of Russia in certain areas of the Caspian Sea, in Russian legislation. The purpose of the study is to analyze the legal norms governing the exploration and exploitation of oil and gas resources in the Caspian Sea. The objectives of the study include identifying and comparing development trends of branch international legal norms and norms of Russian legislation, generalizing theoretical and practical problems of legal regulation. The research methodology is based on the following theoretical methods of cognition: analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, analogy, as well as special methods of cognition of legal phenomena and processes: comparative legal and formal legal. The article compares the provisions of bilateral and multilateral international treaties of the Russian Federation, which are applicable to the exploration and exploitation of oil and gas resources in the Caspian Sea, discloses their mechanisms and significance, and identifies differences in their provisions. In addition, the authors identified differences in the trends in the development of Russian legislation regulating oil and gas activities on the Russian section of the Caspian seabed before and after Russia’s ratification of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea of 2018, analyzed the latest legislative initiatives in this area, and also identified a number of problems of this process.