Green Economics

The Caspian Sea, which is endowed with hydrocarbons and biodiversity, is subjected to cumulative pollution by offshore and coastal oil and gas exploitation. Discharges of produced water, routine flaring and venting, and contaminated sediments preserve the ecosystem and endanger fisheries and coastal populations. Some of them use sophisticated technologies - closed-loop drilling, gas recovery units, fibre-optic leak detection, bioremediation pilots - although these are ad hoc, mostly voluntary, and poorly enshrined in legislation. This paper examines the environmental effects of oil and gas production in the Caspian, taking Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan as examples. It explores the national laws, regional policies like the Tehran Convention, and provisions of the global instruments, pinpointing loopholes in enforcement potential, technological requirements, and international cooperation. The article then characterizes important pollution control technologies that have already been tried in the basin and evaluates the impediments to broader implementation. It holds that the sustainable development of the Caspian demands greater integration of law and engineering through explicit technology-enforcing standards, stronger institutions, and a regional agreement on environmental technologies that will make fragmented innovations a long-term, comprehensive strategy for ecological restoration.