Chavez “Oils” Venezuela’s Ties with China, But At A Cost
May 7th, 2008
Via Stratfor (subscription required), very interesting analysis of PetroChina’s deal with Venezuelan oil company Petroleos de Venezuela to build a 400,000 barrels per day refinery in China’s Guangdong province designed to process Venezuelan bitumen oil (extremely heavy, sour oil) into orimulsion, a fuel developed and patented by PDVSA. The deal allows Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez […]
Read more »Iran and Gazprom
February 29th, 2008
From Al Alam, news that Iran and Gazprom have agreed upon the terms on developing “two or three” blocks of the South Pars field in the Persian Gulf, a deal that further highlights Moscow’s deepening trade and commercial ties with Tehran. In fact, as noted in the article, there may be more oil sector cooperation […]
Read more »Petronas’ Dream Contracts in Uzbekistan: Results of Long-term Planning & Engagement
February 11th, 2008
As adroitly noted in Energy Daily, Malaysia’s Petronas (one of the New “Seven Sisters” which more than ten years ago was already working in Turkmenistan, another hydrocarbon rich nation that Western companies only recently began exploring) seems set to repeat its success in the one Central Asian country with immense potential that has been largely […]
Read more »Calling Dear Leader: Orascom’s North Korean Mobile Licence
February 3rd, 2008
As reported in Arabian Business, Orascom Telecom – the fourth-biggest Arab mobile phone operator by market value – announced that its subsidiary, CHEO Technology (in which the North Korean government also owns 25%), won the first mobile phone licence in North Korea. Orascom stated that it plans to invest $400 million on infrastructure and licence […]
Read more »Argentina and Bolivia’s Northeast Argentine Pipeline; A Feeble Attempt to Balance Brazil’s Growing Might
January 28th, 2008
Stratfor (subscription required) recently reported that Argentine and Bolivian leaders kicked off the $1.8 billion Northeast Argentine Pipeline (GNEA) project in Buenos Aires on Jan. 25. While this has important ramifications for the South American hydrocarbon picture, Stratfor insightfully notes that this is just another harbinger that the geopolitical structure of South America is changing: […]
Read more »A Scramble to Exploit Africa’s Significant Gas Reserves
January 28th, 2008
As reported in a recent Financial Times article, with Europe concerned over Russia’s political motives in exploiting its energy wealth and big international companies shut out or deterred from investing in the Middle East, many eyes have turned to Africa in the hope of securing future supplies of gas. However, as companies scramble to gain […]
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.