Ashgabat
August 29th, 2020
Via the London Review of Books, an interesting commentary on a businessman’s experience in Turkmenistan: I was? sitting next to a Coca-Cola sales exec on the flight to Ashgabat. ‘I hope you’ve got the right-sized photo,’ he said. ‘If you haven’t …’ He gave a short, sharp whistle through his teeth and jerked his thumb backwards: ‘Home you […]
Read more »Central Asian Nations Want To Kick-Start The BRI
June 18th, 2020
Via the Lowy Institute, an article on how Central Asia’s economic fortunes are increasingly bound to Beijing: For China, the Covid-19 question is answered by more Belt and Road. As Foreign Minister Wang Yi put it at a press conference during the 13th National People’s Congress in Beijing last weekend: The impact of Covid-19 on the Belt and […]
Read more »Turkmenistan: Reviving TAPI
June 8th, 2020
Via Eurasianet, a look at Turkmenistan’s recent efforts to revive TAPI: After months of silence on the matter, attention in Ashgabat has turned again to the current state of affairs with the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India natural gas pipeline. Myratgeldy Meredov, a deputy chairman of the Cabinet, assured the president at a government meeting on May 29 that the project […]
Read more »Will Caspian Trade Flow into the Persian Gulf?
May 31st, 2020
Via Window on Eurasia, commentary on the potential for north-south trade in Central Asia: Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan have agreed to promote the expansion of rail traffic from their countries through Iran to Oman and thus to the world ocean, a path that China will likely be the biggest beneficiary of and that will challenge Moscow’s […]
Read more »The Time Is Now for a Trans-Caspian Pipeline
May 28th, 2020
Via Real Clear World, commentary on the potential need for a Trans-Caspian pipeline: China will enter the post-COVID-19 era with many geopolitical advantages. Its lockdown is ending while many in the West are in the midst of theirs. Western policymakers have yet to reach consensus on how to decouple their supply chains from China. Beijing appears to be winning […]
Read more »China’s Gas Cuts Raise Pressure On Central Asia
May 23rd, 2020
Via Eurasia Review, a look at the impact of China’s gas demand reductions on Central Asia: As China cuts back on its commitments to import natural gas, it is trying to spread the shortfall among its increasingly hard-pressed suppliers. Hints of tensions have been rising since early March when reports first surfaced that PetroChina, the […]
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.