Posted on July 30, 2025
The water level of the Caspian Sea has fallen to its lowest level in recorded history, restricting the ability of ships to pass through former channels, especially in the sea’s northern portions. In response, Russia and Kazakhstan have announced plans to dredge a channel through increasingly shallow waters to allow their ships to pass.
Russia’s LUKOIL and Kazakhstan’s KazMunayGaz say they will dig a channel deep enough to allow ships from the two countries in the first instance to reach offshore wells but the water levels are falling so fast that they may have to dredge approaches to their respective ports (casp-geo.ru/rossiya-i-kazahstan-planiruyut-postroit-sudohodnyj-kanal-na-kaspii/).
If the two companies do not dredge quickly enough, neither will be able to continue to extract oil and at current levels from existing wells let alone develop more offshore sites in the northern part of the Caspian; and so they suggest that the entire project is slated to be completed before the end of this decades.
The dredging project is estimated to cost 6.4 billion US dollars, although that figure may rise if the sea continues to fall at current rates or if there is any delay in completing this project.
