Archive for September, 2011

Russia Uses Energy to Elicit Tajik Security Concessions

Courtesy of STRATFOR (subscription required), an interesting report on how Russia continues to use energy prices to pressure Tajikistan to become more compliant in security matters.  As the article notes: “…Gas stations run by a Gazprom affiliate that operates in Tajikistan only have two to three days’ worth of high-octane fuel left, Asia-Plus reported Sept. […]

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Venecuba

Via The Financial Times, an interesting article on the tight relationship between Cuba and Venezuela” “…When Hugo Chávez recently took his third round of chemotherapy, the Venezuelan president opted to do so in Caracas rather than in Havana, where he had received previous treatments for his undisclosed type of cancer. For some, this was a […]

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Impact Of Potential Economic Slowdown In Latin America

Courtesy of Emerging Markets Insights, a look at how fear over a stalling global economy is stalking Latin America.  As noted in article: “…Frontier Strategy Group expects the overall impact of a slowdown to be smaller than in 2008 as Latin America has grown less reliant on global trade flows than other regions. Mexico has […]

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Asia’s New Silk Road And Great Game: The Race For Burma’s Natural Resources

Via Foreign Policy, an interesting article on the race between China and India for Burma’s natural resources: When geography changes — as when the Suez Canal joined Europe to the Indian Ocean, or when the railroads transformed the American West and the Russian East — old patterns of contact disappear and new ones take hold, […]

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Pipeline Politics: Russia’s Nord Stream Blows Cold Air On Ukraine’s Negotiating Position

Via STRATFOR (subscription required), thoughtful analysis on the impact that Russia’s now operational Nord Stream natural gas pipeline will have upon ongoing negotiations between Ukraine and Russia over natural gas prices.  As the article notes: Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yuri Boyko stated Sept. 7 that Ukraine opposes a merger between its state energy […]

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Hayward’s Kurdistan Deal

Via Foreign Policy’s Oil and Glory, some thoughts on the Tony Hayward’s recent oil deal in Kurdistan: Former BP CEO Tony Hayward is receiving hearty handshakes for the $2.1 billion deal he has organized for fields holding a reasonably rich 356 million barrels of oil in Kurdistan. The agreed merger of Hayward’s Vallares with Turkey’s […]

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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.