Russia and Venezuela: Closer Cooperation in Oil & Gas Markets
July 23rd, 2008
As reported in The International Herald Tribune, President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia recently declared that their countries would more closely coordinate their actions on global oil and gas markets. As the article notes: “…Medvedev said it was still possible that Russia could join with Venezuela and other gas-producing nations […]
Read more »Gazprom and Russia’s Energy Imperialism
July 23rd, 2008
Via World Politics Review, an excellent article on Gazprom and Russia’s energy imperialism. As the article notes: “…An ogre of a giant looms to the east of Europe, occasionally in the shape of a country, other times in the shape of a company, the two often indistinguishable. Russia and Gazprom are poised to devour the […]
Read more »Russia-ing North: A Plan To Develop Arctic Oil Reserves
July 20th, 2008
From The Star.com, news that the Kremlin will handpick companies to develop the vast oil reserves believed to be located in the Russian Arctic. As the article notes:  “…Medvedev outlined priorities for developing some of Russia’s richest and most challenging oil deposits.  The government will take the unusual step of selecting companies to develop the […]
Read more »Gazprom: Aiming To Be A Natural Gas Cartel On Its Own?
July 12th, 2008
From Robert Amsterdam’s highly insightful blog, a post asking if – after the news that Russia has offered to purchase every cubic inch available of Libya’s natural gas (this follows upon a similar, less publicized offer to Azerbaijan) – it is even possible to identify any difference between Gazprom and the future natural gas OPEC […]
Read more »Gazprom Neft Seeks to Expand Overseas
July 12th, 2008
As reported by The Silk Road Intelligencer, Gazprom Neft – a subsidiary of Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom – had initiated talks to acquire a 49 percent stake in Mangistaumunaigas (MMG), a Kazakh oil company, according to Russian media. As the article notes: “…The deal is a part of Gazprom Neft’s strategy to expand overseas […]
Read more »Caspian Pipeline Politics: Gazprom’s Monopolistic Actions Backfiring
July 7th, 2008
 As we have discussed many times previously, the existing pipeline architecture of Central Asia represents the regional imperialism of Cold War Russia, despite Turkmen and Kazakh flirtations with new Trans-Caspian pipeline projects to Azerbaijan to circumvent the Russian control over exports to Western Europe. A recent article by Robert M. Cutler of Carleton University in […]
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.