Central Asian Nations Want To Kick-Start The BRI
June 18th, 2020
Via the Lowy Institute, an article on how Central Asia’s economic fortunes are increasingly bound to Beijing: For China, the Covid-19 question is answered by more Belt and Road. As Foreign Minister Wang Yi put it at a press conference during the 13th National People’s Congress in Beijing last weekend: The impact of Covid-19 on the Belt and […]
Read more »Moscow Ready to Play Karakalpak Card Again to Gain Access to New Uzbek Oil Fields
June 15th, 2020
Courtesy of The Jamestown Foundation, a look at Russia’s efforts to gain access to new oil fields in Uzbekistan: Borders remain in dispute throughout Central Asia, with Moscow paying such close attention that governments in the region now feel the need to warn the Russian authorities not to become involved (Ritmeurasia.org, June 5). Often Moscow […]
Read more »China Could Ultimately Displace Western Majors as Key Player in Caspian Oil Fields
June 15th, 2020
Via The Jamestown Foundation, an interesting commentary on whether China can play a bigger role in the Caspian’s petroleum future: Twenty-six years ago, on September 20, 1994, Azerbaijan signed an accord with a consortium of ten international oil companies to develop its fields on the Caspian Shelf, an event that both Baku and the West […]
Read more »Syria: A Future Notch on China’s BRI?
June 12th, 2020
Via Eurasia Review, an article on how Syria could become a key node in China’s infrastructure, telecommunications and energy-driven Belt and Road Initiative (BRI): China looms large as a potentially key player alongside Russia and Iran in President Bashas al-Assad’s post-war Syria. With Russia and Iran lacking the financial muscle and the United States and […]
Read more »North Korea: Selling Sand
June 10th, 2020
Via CNN, an interesting report on how North Korea might be making millions — and breaking sanctions — selling sand: It was May of last year when Lucas Kuo and Lauren Sung noticed something strange: more than 100 ships gathering in the waters near Haeju, North Korea. As part of their work at the Washington-based Center […]
Read more »A Pipelineistan Fable For Our Times
June 8th, 2020
Via the Asia Times, an article on how Ukraine was supposed to prevent Russia from deepening energy ties with Germany, but it didn’t work out that way: Once upon a time in Pipelineistan, tales of woe were the norm. Shattered dreams littered the chessboard – from IPI vs. TAPI in the AfPak realm to the neck-twisting Nabucco opera in Europe. […]
Read more »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.