A new US Department of Energy survey provides updated data on oil & natural gas production in the Caspian Basin. It shows that four regional states – Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – collectively account for 3% of global energy production.

The Regional Analysis Brief: Caspian Sea additionally provides an overview of regional coal production, power generation and energy export routes, as well as a breakdown of regional refinery operations.

Azerbaijan possesses oil reserves in 2025 of about 7bn barrels and gas reserves of about 60 trillion cubic feet (tcf), according to the US Energy Department report. Virtually all production is generated offshore. Oil production has fallen from nearly 1mn barrels per day (b/d) in 2010 to an estimated 600,000 b/d currently. Natural gas production, meanwhile, achieved a record high in 2023 (the last year for which data is available), totalling 1.3 tcf. Azerbaijan is maximising gas production to meet ambitious EU supply commitments.

Kazakhstan’s proven oil reserves topped 30bn barrels in 2025 and gas reserves were pegged at 85 tcf. About 1.5mn b/d of crude oil and 400,000 b/d of petroleum liquid fuels were extracted in 2024. The country produced 1 tcf of natural gas, most of which was used for domestic consumption. About a third of the gas extracted “was reinjected to increase oil production,” according to the Energy Department survey, which adds that “natural gas produced at [the] Tengiz and Kashagan [fields] generally is high in sulfur and so, requires special handling and additional expense to process.”

Turkmenistan possesses the world’s fifth highest proven natural gas reserves, 400 tcf in 2025, the report states. Dry natural gas production reached 3.0 tcf in 2023, the highest annual total since records started being kept in 1992. Most exports presently head east to China, but Ashgabat is looking to expand export options, including southward via a trans-Afghanistan route. The Energy Department highlights an obstacle to expanding Turkmen gas exports to Europe. “High methane emissions from its oil and natural gas fields threaten Turkmenistan’s prospects to enter the European natural gas market via a potential Trans Caspian Pipeline,” it notes. Turkmen oil reserves are comparatively minor, totalling 600mn barrels, with annual production reaching 275,000 b/d in 2024.

Like Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan’s oil reserves are relatively negligible at 594mn barrels, with production of 63,000 b/d in 2024, about one-third the level of the country’s peak production 25 years ago. Proven Uzbek gas reserves are 65 tcf, with production reaching 1.5 tcf in 2023. Uzbekistan is the only one of the four states covered in the Energy Department report that cannot meet its own energy consumption needs. 

Kazakhstan is the eighth leading coal producer in the world and the only major producer among the four Caspian states surveyed. About 130mn short tons of coal were extracted in Kazakhstan in 2023, with almost 40mn tons exported. Most of the extracted coal, including exports, was used for electricity generation. Coal is additionally “a major energy source for the mining and smelting industries,” the report states.

This article first appeared on Eurasianet here.