How Chevron Aims to Tap More Oil Below Kazakhstan’s Grassy Plains
January 5th, 2026
Courtesy of The New York Times, a look at how – after spending nearly $50 billion to expand Kazakhstan’s Tengiz oil field – the American oil giant and its partners encounter more uncertainty: More than two miles below the windswept steppe of western Kazakhstan, porous rocks composed of the skeletons of coral and other ancient […]
Read more »How China and the Gulf States are Shaping Central Asia’s Energy Transition
December 31st, 2025
Via East Asia Forum, an article on how China and the Gulf states are shaping Central Asia’s energy transition: China and the Gulf states are expanding renewable energy investment in Central Asia. Through complementary competition, they vie for influence while occupying distinct and often mutually supportive roles in clean energy projects, particularly in Kazakhstan and […]
Read more »Looking Back at a Hot Railroad Summer for Central Asia and Afghanistan
September 11th, 2025
Via The Diplomat, a look back at the summer of Central Asian railroads, when – in July – Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan all signed agreements with Afghanistan related to the development of railways: On July 31, Turkmenistan signed a $5 million agreement with Afghanistan to jointly develop and invest in the expansion of Torghundi, a dry […]
Read more »The Changing Skies Over Central Asia
August 6th, 2025
Via The Diplomat, an article on how – with a rapid expansion in flights to, from, and within the region – the aviation industry is starting to reshape Central Asia: For all the talk of infrastructure corridors, the real transport success story of the last few years in Central Asia has been in the air. […]
Read more »A Business Hub for Central Asia’s Elite? What to Expect From Alatau
June 25th, 2025
Via The Diplomat, a look at Alatau where Tokayev’s vision of a futuristic Singapore-style city is slowly getting started, but takes a different development approach than Astana did: In a late afternoon session at the Astana International Forum, Kazakhstan’s Vice Minister of National Economy Zhandos Shaimardanov stepped onto the stage for a long-awaited talk on […]
Read more »Risk and Reward in Central Asia’s Critical Raw Materials Boom
May 15th, 2025
Via The Diplomat, a look at how – as Brussels, Beijing, Moscow, and Washington scramble to secure key materials for clean energy and new tech – they have begun to size up the region’s potential. Not long ago, critical raw materials (CRMs) – metals and minerals essential for technology, green energy, and defense – were […]
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.