Acknowledgements This publication is the result of a Transatlantic Issues Seminar on Oil and Gas in the Caspian Sea Region: Geopolitical and Regional Security sponsored by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Washington, DC on March 11-12, 1998. The Washington Office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation prepared the manuscripts for publication. I would like to thank Helen Pataki who helped organize the seminar and get the publication off the ground, as well as Karen Sykora and Genevieve Libonati for their editing and formatting of the text. In view of the most recent developments in the Caspian Sea Region this publication, thanks to the high level of expertise of the authors, might contribute to a better understanding of the fundamental economic, political and strategic dynamics of this potential conflict area. Dieter Dettke Washington, DC December 1999 i