Getting a new source of gas supply to Europe has been a topic of discussion within the European Union for the past two decades. It began long before the current crisis over Ukraine erupted between the U.S., Europe and Russia.

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 gave rise to an acute and immediate interest among Western oil companies in the hydrocarbon resources that exist within the former Soviet republics, particularly those surrounding the Caspian Sea and especially Azerbaijan, which had been an oil-producing region for well over 150 years. (In fact, Azerbaijan’s hydrocarbon history goes back much further.)