Archive for July, 2013

Trouble in Emerging-Market Paradise

Courtesy of Project Syndicate, an article examining the plight of the BRICS: During the last few years, a lot of hype has been heaped on the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa). With their large populations and rapid growth, these countries, so the argument goes, will soon become some of the largest economies […]

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Azerbaijan: When It Comes To Pipelines, It’s Not Personal, It’s Strictly Business

Via Eurasia Review, an interesting commentary on the Nabucco pipeline failure: Just like the protagonist in the eponymous opera, the Nabucco pipeline, the one-time leading option for carrying natural gas from Azerbaijan to Europe, has been outmaneuvered and knocked from its preeminent perch. In the opera, Nabucco is a king of Babylon who is outwitted […]

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Sudan, South Sudan: Outsiders Try Diplomacy to Prevent Oil Stoppage

Courtesy of STRATFOR (subscription required), a report on South Sudan South Sudan has been gradually decreasing its oil production over the last week in response to Sudan’s continued threats to shut down pipelines transporting South Sudanese oil over allegations that Juba supports rebel groups within Sudan. Negotiations between the two countries to prevent another complete […]

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Ace Is The Place With The Afghan Hardware Man

Via Emerging Markets Frontier blog, an article on Ace Hardware’s planned entry to Afghanistan: Growing uncertainty swirls around Afghanistan’s economic climate as the country inches closer to December 2014, when U.S. and international combat troops are expected to withdraw from an increasingly unpopular war. Many Afghans believe the end of the war also means the […]

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Market Focus: Cambodia

Via Global Finance Magazine, a look at Cambodia: Often overshadowed by its regional rivals Vietnam, Thailand and, most recently, Myanmar, Cambodia has been undergoing a quiet transformation. After more than a decade of 6%-plus growth—with just one hiccup during the global crisis in 2009—the Southeast Asian nation of 15 million people has begun attracting serious […]

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Russia’s Gazprom to Buy Kyrgyz State Energy Firm

Courtesy of STRATFOR (subscription required), a report on Gazprom’s upcoming acquisition of a Kyrgyz energy firm: Russia’s looming acquisition of a key energy company in Kyrgyzstan will boost its position in the strategic country, with economic and security implications for the broader Central Asian region. Kyrgyz state energy firm Kyrgyzgaz head Turgunbek Kulmurzayev said July 17 that Russia’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.