A flurry of recent deals and announcements suggest significant new reserves of natural gas are contained in the Ustyurt Plateau, which spans western sections of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The prospect of a major Ustyurt find is, in turn, helping to fuel interest in building a trans-Caspian gas corridor.

The UK energy giant BP (NYSE: BP) is shaping up as the pivotal player in the development of Ustyurt’s potential energy riches. On April 2, a company subsidiary signed an exploration deal with the Kazakh state-run entity KazMunayGaz (KZ.KMGZ) covering a “promising Ustyurt block.”

“The renewal of the partnership opens up new opportunities for the joint implementation of promising initiatives,” a KazMunayGaz statement added. 

BP has also been in talks with Uzbek officials about joining Uzbekneftegaz, the Uzbek state energy entity, and Azerbaijan’s SOCAR (403550.KS) in developing Ustyurt. 

“As part of attracting direct [foreign] investment in the oil and gas sector in the Ustyurt region, projects are being implemented to develop new fields together with the Azerbaijani company SOCAR and British Petroleum,” Uzbekneftegaz first deputy chairman Sukhrob Khamroyev said in an interview with state television.

Uzbekistan and SOCAR signed a production sharing agreement in 2025 covering Ustyurt, under which the two sides engage in the exploration of an area of at least 1,000 square kilometres (386 square miles), and jointly develop any oil and gas resources found in economically viable quantities. Shortly after, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced the discovery of “a very large natural gas field” in the Ustyurt area. Efforts to have BP join the deal appear to confirm initial prospecting results have been highly encouraging. 

On April 2, KazMunayGaz representatives announced the discovery of a large onshore oil and gas deposit in Kazakhstan’s Zhylyoi District, north of the Ustyurt Plateau. Characterising the discovery as a “second Kashagan,” the Zhylyoi deposit is estimated to contain upwards of 20bn tonnes of hydrocarbons, according to a report distributed by the official Kazinform news agency. 

“It [the Zhylyoi deposit] is comparable to the geological potential of Kashagan. But unlike Kashagan, which is located in a shallow [offshore] zone and requires large capital expenditures, this massif is located on land. Thus, capital costs are significantly reduced," Kazinform quoted Kurmangazy Iskaziev, a top KazMunayGaz official, as saying.

Importantly, for Kazakhstan, any development of the Zhylyoi field does not fall under a production sharing agreement covering Kashagan. That PSA provided for an injection of foreign investment that made energy production possible at the field, but it also left Astana with only a tiny share of export profits. Any PSA covering Zhylyoi or Ustyurt will presumably provide Kazakhstan with a much larger share of production revenue.

The news about recent discoveries and deals seems to be stimulating discussion about the construction of a long-planned trans-Caspian pipeline. The Azerbaijani government-connected news outlet Caliber.az cited a BP geologist based in Azerbaijan as saying the company is interested in developing “a new energy corridor aimed at transporting natural gas from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan through Azerbaijan to European markets via the Southern Gas Corridor.”

“BP intends to leverage its accumulated experience in Azerbaijan to build a synchronised infrastructure,” Caliber quotes the BP representative, Baghir Ibrahimov, as saying.

This article first appeared on Eurasianet here.