Geo-strategic Dimensions of Kazakhstan at the Eve of Global Peak Oil
Geo-strategic Dimensions of Kazakhstan at the Eve of Global Peak Oil

Summary/Abstract: The term ‘peak oil’ simply means running out of cheap oil or easy oil. Since the early days of oil production, the oil companies have chosen oil reserves close to surface, which were less costly to reach. In other words, they have extracted ‘cheap oil’, which we still call oil. The world economic system has been shaped with the supposition that oil would be always available cheaply. However, industry estimates indicate that a global economic crisis, related to dramatically rising oil prices, will occur soon. Moreover, it is estimated that continued price increases will become a structural problem. Without bothering the exact time of global peak oil, this paper assumes someday global peak oil will occur. Thus, it is argued that ‘global peak oil’ issue has served as an additional dimension to geo-strategic significance of world’s remaining untapped oil resources. In that regard, it is asserted that Kazakhstan, which has massive untapped oil reserves with its little domestic consumption and growing export capacity have become the focal point of strategic rivalries between the United States , Russia , and China. Clearly, Kazakhstan’s land-locked positioning at the heart of Central Asia has stimulated these rivalries. In the light of these arguments, this paper aims to analyse geo-strategic dimensions of Kazakhstan and its enormous oil fields on the eve of global peak oil. In the first part, the author explains what the global peak oil means, followed by its implications on the global economy that benefits the US most. In the second part of the paper, the author underlines the significance of Kazakhstan and its wide rich untapped oil reserves on the eve of global peak oil. Moreover, geo-strategic rivalries among the US, Russia and China will be analysed. It will be concluded with the assertion that if the US dictated, oil depended, global energy infrastructure continues, rivalries over remaining untapped oil reserves in general and Kazakh oil in particular, will incrementally increase on the eve of global peak oil.

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