Archive for August, 2008

Iran, Algeria to Discuss OPEC-style Gas Group

As reported by Reuters, Iran and Algeria are expected to discuss the formation of an OPEC-style gas group during a visit by  Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to Tehran.  As the article notes: “… Iran wants to turn the previously toothless Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) into a more formal organization akin to the Organization of […]

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Original Seven Sisters: Old & Struggling

From Newsweek, a timely reminder of the struggles facing the original Seven Sisters and the rise of the new oil majors.  As the article notes: “…The escalating [BP] dispute is emblematic of the problems facing Big Oil—shrinking access, falling profit margins, underinvestment in equipment and technology and a business model that’s increasingly questioned. Major Western […]

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Ka$hakhstan

Via Arabian Business, an interesting look at the wave of Middle Eastern investment targeting Kazakhstan. Up for grabs is the vast and untapped commodity wealth of a country the size of Western Europe, with all the wheat, copper and uranium that Gulf states need. As the article notes: “…The head of investment banking at Renaissance […]

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Ecuador Gains Help to Maintain Petroleum Production

From Bloomberg, a report that State-owned energy company PetroEcuador and Ivanhoe Energy Inc., a Canadian oil and natural-gas producer, will sign an oil production deal in which Ivanhoe will invest about $4.5 billion over the 30-year lifetime of the agreement to extract crude from the Pungarayacu oil field in the Ecuadorean Amazon.  According to the […]

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Sinochem: Hunts for Assets Overseas

Via Energy Daily, news that China’s Sinochem Corp., a state-owned oil trading conglomerate, has entered into an agreement to explore oil and gas in two blocks in Indonesia. As the article notes: “…Sinochem has bought a 20-percent working interest in Merangin II Block and a 40-percent stake in Belida Block, both in oil-rich south Sumatra, […]

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Turkey and Iran: Natural Gas Deal

According to The International Herald Tribune, Turkey and Iran will probably sign a natural gas deal during Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s expected visit to the Turkish capital, Ankara. As the report notes: “…Ahmad Noorani, in charge of economic affairs at the Iranian Embassy in Ankara, said the two countries agreed in May on the construction […]

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ABOUT
WILDCATS AND BLACK SHEEP
Wildcats & Black Sheep is a personal interest blog dedicated to the identification and evaluation of maverick investment opportunities arising in frontier - and, what some may consider to be, “rogue” or “black sheep” - markets around the world.

Focusing primarily on The New Seven Sisters - the largely state owned petroleum companies from the emerging world that have become key players in the oil & gas industry as identified by Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent for The Financial Times - but spanning other nascent opportunities around the globe that may hold potential in the years ahead, Wildcats & Black Sheep is a place for the adventurous to contemplate & evaluate the emerging markets of tomorrow.