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 »Dinosaurs at the Tar Pit: Big Oil as Road Kill on The Hydrocarbon Highway?
February 5th, 2008
From The Times (UK), more news on the decline of Big Oil in favour of government-controlled national oil companies in big producer countries such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran and Venezuela. The share of the world’s oil reserves controlled by the big Western oil companies, such as BP, Shell and ExxonMobil, has fallen to less […]
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 »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 »“Gas OPEC” to Be Discussed again in June
January 28th, 2008
As reported by Iran’s Shana news, gas-producing countries are planning to again discuss the idea of forming a “gas OPEC” along the lines of the existing oil organization in June in Moscow. According to the article, members of the existing Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) had appointed an expert to look at the idea of […]
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.