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 »China’s Energy Diplomacy
March 11th, 2008
Via Energy Daily, an interesting analysis of China’s energy diplomacy as part of the country’s quest for energy to feed its export economy as well as its strategic competition with India for both resources and regional influence. In addition to building of a port in Pakistan, its extra-polite friendship with the rulers of Myanmar and […]
Read more »The Iron Silk Road (2): China Railroads Central Asia
February 3rd, 2008
As we have discussed earlier in this forum, China is attempting to draw Central Asia into its orbit by developing extensive energy links with the region’s nations but, as noted here earlier & reinforced by a recent Stratfor analysis, it now attempting to capture the whole of Central Asian economic life. As the analysis notes: […]
Read more »The Second World: Key Players in the Geopolitical Marketplace
January 28th, 2008
An excellent piece in yesterday’s New York Times magazine effectively argues that the US’s position in the global order of things is changing and, that in addition to the three powers in today’s world (i.e. the U.S., China and the European Union), a set of “second world†nations that are part developed & part developing […]
Read more »The Iron Silk Road? China’s Western Rails To Form Link With Central Asia
January 28th, 2008
As reported by Xinhua, China is planning to start construction on two railways linking its westernmost Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region with the central Asian nations of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in 2008. Upon its completion in 2010, experts say the railway will provide a faster link between western China and central Asia and improve the […]
Read more »Scramble for Africa…The “Final Frontier” of Conventional Sources of Oil
January 25th, 2008
As reported by Reuters, high oil prices and the onslaught of resource nationalism from Russia to South America have sent Western majors delving ever deeper into the waters of the Gulf of Guinea, triggering a new scramble for Africa. As the article notes: “…Unlike more established oil-producing regions, the Gulf of Guinea offers easy access […]
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.