Azerbaijan's energy minister called Wednesday for new, large-scale investments in exploring for oil and gas in the Caspian Sea, saying growth in oil output would slow down in the next decade.
Industry and Energy Minister Natik Aliyev said oil production would increase by roughly one third to 65 million metric tons by 2015-2020 but at a far slower rate than the threefold growth over the past decade.
"New investment projects in the Caspian region are necessary. Exploration in the Caspian region is very complex and therefore international corporations and investors should be united in this business," he said. "The Caspian region needs about $200 billion in investment."
Energy-rich Azerbaijan, wedged between Russia and Iran, is key to competing Russian and Western pipeline projects that aim to pump oil and gas from the Caspian Sea basin to end clients in Europe.
Azerbaijan has been touted as a potential supplier for the European Union's ambitious Nabucco pipeline to deliver Caspian natural gas through Turkey to Europe while bypassing Russia.