Explanation:

Recently, five Caspian Sea States – Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan - signed a breakthrough agreement on Caspian Sea’s legal status.

•              The 5 nations have tried to define the Caspian Sea’s legal status since the collapse of Soviet Union in order to divide up the waters and its natural resources for new drillings and pipelines. Iran, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan have contested the ownership of several oil and gas fields.

•              According to an estimate by the US Energy Information Administration in 2013, the Caspian offshore reserves contain at least 20 Billion Barrels of Oil and more than 240 trillion Cubic Feet of natural gas.

•              These nations have already developed offshore oil and gas reserves that are located near enough to their coast.

•              Projects in the northernmost waters- Kazakhstan’s giant Kashagan field and Russia’s Filanovsky and Korchagin deposits- are seen as sources of future oil-output growth for the countries.