With China and the US looking for oil-rich countries outside of the Middle East, their attention has turned to the CIS ? to the benefit of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.
Sakhalin Island is fast becoming the site of the world?s latest oil boom, with a stream of international companies tripping over themselves to tap into the vast natural resources to be found there.
By Gawdat Bahgat, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Advances in technology have meant oil and gas companies can improve ways of gauging reservoir pressure, temperature, flow rate and fluid composition ? yet Russia is still behind when it comes to investing in intelligent well systems.
In many parts of the world, hydraulic fracturing is necessary in order to produce adequate quantities of hydrocarbons from an oil or gas well.