PRC–Turkmenistan Gas Ties Hedge Hormuz Risk
May 11th, 2026
Via Jamestown, a look at China’s efforts to develop overland energy security through Central Asia, especially Turkmenistan: The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is intensifying its pursuit of overland energy security through Central Asia as the Middle East conflict raises the strategic cost of maritime exposure. Turkmenistan is the primary anchor of this effort. Politburo […]
Read more »An Insurgency Threatens U.S. Mining Ambitions in Pakistan
May 3rd, 2026
Courtesy of the New York Times, a report on attacks by the Baloch Liberation Army which could derail Pakistan’s plans for a billion-dollar mining deal with the Trump administration: Standing in the Oval Office in September, Pakistan’s Army chief gave President Trump a wooden box filled with minerals and gems — a nod to the […]
Read more »An Old Railroad Is Key to U.S.-China Race for Critical Metals In Africa
May 1st, 2026
Via Rest of World, an article on howWashington is trying to use the Lobito Railway in Congo to break China’s hold on critical metals in Africa: The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of Africa’s wealthiest countries even as its people are some of the world’s poorest. It is rich in cobalt, lithium and […]
Read more »Iran War Revives a Decade-Old African Gas-Pipeline Dream
April 30th, 2026
Courtesy of Bloomberg, a report on an estimated $25B African gas pipeline project: Some pipe dreams can come true after all. When Morocco in 2016 came up with the idea of a 4,300-mile (6,900-kilometer) conduit to transfer natural gas from West Africa to the Mediterranean, few thought it feasible. In the decade since, however, the […]
Read more »Bankable Bet: War Opens an African Frontier for Investors Hunting for Fuel
April 27th, 2026
Via Bloomberg, a look at how investors are looking towards Africa to fill the fuel supply gap: The war in the Middle East has investors scouring for an alternate energy fix. Africa can be a major beneficiary. Executives who were considering whether to enter African markets are now looking at how fast they can deploy […]
Read more »Syrian Billionaires Needed a Favor in Washington. They Invoked the Trump Name.
April 26th, 2026
Courtesy of the New York Times, a look at the efforts of Moutaz and Ramez Al-Khayyat, two of three Syrian-born brothers, to influence foreign policy while discussions are underway about potential Trump family deals in Syria: Last summer, Representative Joe Wilson, Republican of South Carolina, sat in his Capitol Hill office in rapt attention as Middle […]
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.