Why did I name this blog: Wildcats and Black Sheep? Wildcats draws it origin from wildcatting (in the petroleum / natural resource sense) and also has an implicit reference to the Asian “tiger” economies that have – for so long – been defined as successful models of economic development. Clearly, some of the resource-based emerging economies of Central Asia and other parts of the world may have an opportunity to follow the Tigers’ trends and, in time, may grow from nascent wildcats into full-fledged tigers, but we’ll see. As for Black Sheep, well, I believe this straightforward term needs no further explanation although, as noted in my introductory post, one person’s perception of rogue or maverick is almost certainly another person’s definition of stability and bliss.

While I’ve not had the pleasure of meeting or speaking with him, or even of reading his work in detail, I owe a small debt of gratitude for partially sparking the idea for this blog’s name to USAF Major Patrick G. Sullivan who published his July 2006 thesis entitled “Wildcats and Tigers: China’s Oil Acquisition Strategy and Potential Outcomes”. I happened across his work while performing some random internet research one day, and my quick scan of his paper helped cement my own long-held idea that the subject matter to be discussed in this blog may have both a use and interest to some.