Gas’ing Up: China Pays For a Central Asian Pipeline
December 30th, 2007
I noticed via The International Herald Tribune, that China’s biggest oil company – China National Petroleum Corp. – has agreed to spend US$2.2 billion to help build a natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan that will eventually supply energy for booming cities such as Shanghai. Just yet another matching of mutual interests – China’s desire to […]
Read more »A Shifting Balance between Gazprom and Rosneft in Russia?
December 29th, 2007
Came across Strator’s (subscription only) interesting analysis of Gazprom’s desire to purchase at least 50 percent of Rosneft’s prized subsidiary, Tomskneft, a move indicating that Gazprom may soon attempt to equal or surpass rival Rosneft’s influence in Russian petro-circles. As discussed on this blog earlier, Gazprom’s board chairman and overall political backer, Dmitri Medvedev, has […]
Read more »Pipelines: Carrying Oil and A New Balance of Power from Kazakhstan Towards China
December 11th, 2007
Via Stratfor (subscription required), an excellent analysis of how the balance of power between China, Russia and the United States will change now that ground has been broken on the final portion of a pipeline linking the massive energy reserves of the Caspian Sea directly to China (namely the pipeline connecting the Kazakh cities of […]
Read more »A Gazprom State?
December 11th, 2007
As always, highly interesting analysis from Steve Levine at Oil & Glory, this time on Russia’s use of Gazprom as one of its spear points of foreign policy. As the article notes: “…Through its control of natural gas pipelines , Gazprom is the instrument of Russian influence in its former colonies in Central Asia, the […]
Read more »Getting a Unified Economy on Track…
December 11th, 2007
As reported by The International Herald Tribune, North and South Korea began regular cargo train service across their heavily armed border Tuesday for the first time in more than a half century. While I do not think that the 12-car train or the construction materials, shoes, underwear and other items will make a marked difference […]
Read more »More Pipe(line) Dreams? Nabucco’s Future
December 11th, 2007
Via Energy Daily, an excellent review of the proposed Nabucco natural gas pipeline, a 2,050-mile-long, $7.3 billion project connecting the Caspian region, Middle East and Egypt via Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary with Austria and further on with the Central and Western European gas markets. As the analysis concludes, the success of the pipeline project rests […]
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.