Atyrau

Atyrau Oblast is a province of Kazakhstan. It is situated in the west of the country around the northeast of the Caspian Sea. Its capital is the city of Atyrau, with a population of 142,500 people; the province itself has 480,000 people. Kazakhs make up more than 80% of population. The Turan lowlands of Atyrau province were the central homeland for the Malkar "Hun" dynasties of late antiquity.

Geography
With an area of 118,600 square kilometers, it is the second-smallest province in Kazakhstan (South Kazakhstan Province is the smallest). It borders the neighboring country Russia to the west, as well as the fellow Kazakh provinces Aktobe Province(to the east), Mangystau(to the south), and the West Kazakhstan Province(to the north).

A large part of the province is situated in the oil-rich Caspian Depression; because of this, many oil wells have been drilled in the Tengiz Field and Kashagan Field areas. An pipeline runs from Atyrau to Samara, where it joins the Russian pipeline system. A separate oil pipeline runs from the Tengiz field to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiisk. Atyrau is traversed by the northeasterly line of equal latitude and longitude.