Archive for 2008

Into Africa … (2)

While frontier markets in Africa are not yet the new Brazil, let alone the new South Korea, there are ample reasons to be optimistic about the economic resurgence in many African countries.  As The Financial Times recently pointed out: “…The focus on high profile conflicts in Africa, such as the ongoing election in Zimbabwe and […]

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A Knot of Pipeline Projects/Proposals: The Caspian Conundrum

Via Radio Free Europe, an insightful look at the multitude of Caspian pipeline projects that leaders of the Caspian Sea littoral states — Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Iran — and others such as the EU and U.S. are discussing, debating, funding, and developing. As the article notes: “…we are in the middle of a […]

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Azeri Aim To Become Gas Transit Route

As recently reported in The Financial Times, Azerbaijan – already a growing force on world oil markets – is carving a role for itself both as a natural gas exporter and as a strategic gas transit route linking the Caspian region with the west.  As the article notes: “…2007 marked a turning point in the […]

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Central Asia’s Great (Oil and Gas) Game

Via The Geotimes, an interesting look at the machinations around Central Asian hydrocarbon resources.  As the article notes: “…Today for Central Asiatic countries of the Caspian project (via Russia), there are only two alternatives for the West and the East. The Western direction is represented by the trans-Caspian gas pipeline, which passes at the bottom […]

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The Future of Petronas: Pemex or Petrobras?

As reported by Stratfor (subscription required), Malaysia’s energy giant Petronas could go broke within a decade if the government takes all of its profits under a new tax scheme, the company’s president and chief executive Tan Sri Hassan Marican recently said.  Although Petronas would not be the first Asian energy major to bow under soaring […]

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Resource Nationalism and The New Seven Sisters

A very interesting Reuters article on how resource nationalism — countries nationalizing and controlling their domestic oil industries — is changing the way global oil markets respond to higher prices. After all, when you can revenue acceleration from a finite resource without increasing supply, why bother pumping more?  As the report notes: “…Resource nationalism in […]

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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.