Archive for January, 2021

National Iranian Oil Company Signs Contracts Worth $1.2B

Via The Financial Tribune, a report on contracts recently signed by the National Iranian Oil Company to develop eight fields: The National Iranian South Oil Company, the Iranian Offshore Oil Company and Iran Central Oil Fields Company — all subsidiaries of the National Iranian Oil Company – signed contracts with domestic oil and gas firms […]

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China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway Remains Uncertain

Via Third Pole, an article on the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway which – after more than two decades of negotiations – remains stalled on basic issues, with no clear way forward: The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway (CKU) has been under discussion for almost 25 years, but construction may never begin. Despite numerous high level meetings the three countries have failed to […]

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The World’s Largest State-Owned Oil Companies

Via Visual Capitalist, a look at the world’s largest state-owned oil companies: Oil is one of the world’s most important natural resources, playing a critical role in everything from transportation fuels to cosmetics. For this reason, many governments choose to nationalize their supply of oil. This gives them a greater degree of control over their oil […]

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Winter Energy Woes Bedevil Central Asia

Via The Diplomat, a look at how Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan have all suffered in recent months from shortages and blackouts, leaving their citizens to experience cold nights and darkened lights: As the new year was just beginning, the lights went dark in Kabul. Afghan media reported last week that in one 24 hour period late in the […]

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Should Australia Buy Papua New Guinea’s Largest Telecom Firm?

Via The Diplomat, an article on the possibility of Australia purchasing Papua New Guinea’s largest telecom firm: Within Australia, the national security community is abuzz with the prospect of the sale of Papua New Guinea’s largest telecommunications company, Digicel. The Australian government is currently under significant lobbying pressure to provide support to private bidders for […]

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Uzbekistan: Looking Ahead

Via IntelliNews, a detailed look at Uzbekistan: Uzbekistan started out 2020 as The Economist’s “Country of the year” as efforts to transform what just four years ago was still basically something like an old-fashioned post-Soviet dictatorship, dismantle trade protectionist policies and develop the beginnings of a free market bore much fruit. The coronavirus-afflicted year that has just passed […]

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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.