487 
Russian offshore oil output since 1951 is shown in the following table: 
Barrels per day Year 
(SSG) Rs Ss ee ak ee ah PER AME SD LE INL oe Be UR tay are one ae 1951 
TCO RAG ee mene te tes ee OO lhe RRS Tas sie te ted? ee. oa Boao 7 dd ee 1960 
DOE ROL Rae She. Akt PTI TOUR TC IPE fyrewreh eee ore sd 2 MELEE IY Joe eh BESS ey gk. Bes ee 1965 
PBR IOn Ae ale ote by 2 3" Ee eee fg) tS Ee ean. ae See wea 1966 
PVE SSUES EET -O5. PAN eeA gee ey. Se tea! JESEEL La {MeL cele” te eee ae ee Rene oe 1967 
SOPRANO peep ae eebs SIRs, C2lss tee ose Aah. Ee See 2h eee Tee 1968 
DSS O00 Berra itty | EP Rnae Neds fe’ 2 tele Ba rele. rede beet tyedy fee. gern ee le ee ee a 1969 
PGC O) a SNS) 5 Lat LRAT e SS Le a A ee a eS ee eee ee ye ye eee of Ye ene 1970 
PCN GO Opeweeeee — eee hae Phan e TUE CEA Tice! up Te ee ae ee 1971 
2IGOU) aaa ss oe EE See Zoey SE, SORE, SRE eS Re Ae CES Oe 1972 
DAM OU Opera mene bear te EE ee rh tn Seta Oe a SR eee Soe ee = A OE 1973 
PRNEOOORES = By.5 9 Se. Vy eae Be 6) pa bt RE i a8 Sy PERS SN ee ee 1974 
PE eOOORM Planned)! 22. = ate ce Wee ha Rae A Sea LI ed AO Af 1975 
BaUOUOK(planned)icht seats Se eett Sa ee eye ee ENS RE es Pe 3 3 1980 
SO OOOO tos GOL000i) (planned) i eyhet. See kere ae a he eae ee 1985 
Source: Adapted from Bakke, Donald R. Soviet Russia Hopes for Decade of Offshore Petroleum 
Expansion Rise Despite Skid in Subsea Oil Production. Offshore. June 20, 1975, p. 232. 
The Neftianye Kamni field, which has over 1,000 wells, is by far 
the most prolific single field yet found in the Caspian Sea. It was 
discovered in 1949 and had an estimated initial crude reserve of 
more than 1.2 billion barrels. However, Neftianye Kamni output is 
fading in spite of continued development drilling. Its production has 
come mostly from Pliocene formations between 180 meters and 1,620 
meters in depth. Neftianye Kami production, which was 140,000 bar- 
rels per day as recently as 1970 is now believed to have fallen to 
below 80,000 barrels per day.”4 
The Caspian Sea currently has a total of 20 fields with the largest 
crude oil and condensate production, over 90,000 barrels pér day, 
coming from the Baku Archipelago fields located south of Baku. Only 
one of the four fields found since 1967 on the Caspian Sea’s eastern 
shelf, offshore from Turkmenistan, is in production, the others being 
shut in due to a lack of pipelines. 
While Caspian offshore oil production is at a 10-year low, gas 
output continues to increase. It has climbed from less than 124 billion 
cubic feet in 1970 to about 265 billion cubic feet in 1974 and is 
expected to exceed 282 billion cubic feet in 1975. The target for 
1985 is 424 billion cubic feet.2> Caspian subsea gas production during 
the first quarter of 1975 was reported to have increased 15 percent 
over the same 1974 period, while oil output slumped further. 
The projected growth in Caspian oil and gas production during 
the next decade is expected to partially result from the greatly in- 
creased use of mobile drilling rigs. At present the U.S.S.R. has only 
four mobile units, all jack-ups, and two of these are considered ob- 
solete. The Soviet Union is believed to be drilling about 360,000 
meters of hole annually in the Caspian. Of this, about 60 percent 
is development drilling and 40 percent exploratory drilling.2° With 
24 Ibid. 
5 Ibid. 
26 Ibid. 
