The armed conflict between Russian and Georgia has further exposed the fragile position of the energy links running through the smaller country from the Caspian Sea to developed market economies South Ossetia energy geopolitics on the ground today Russian forces … Continue reading →
Corruption and politics in Ukraine threaten to choke off, at least in the near term, the expansion of oil exports, through the Odessa-Brody pipeline, from Azerbaijan and eventually Kazakhstan to Europe. This is the significance of Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliya … Continue reading →
Ground was broken in Kazakhstan last week for construction of that country’s segment of a pipeline for Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline transmission, set to be the longest and most expensive such pipeline in the world. Its length is usually given as … Continue reading →
Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have culminated years-long negotiations with agreements with agreements to increase Trans-Caspian oil exports are set to include with culmination of Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan negotrations across the Caspian Sea, supplementing Azerbaijani crude in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline.
Continue reading →New prospects to extend the Caspian pipeline network with a Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline (TCGP) from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan have been receiving deserved attention in recent months. However, another project to pipe energy resources from the western to the eastern shore … Continue reading →
Recent weeks have seen increasing United States activity in favor of constructing the Trans-Caspian Pipeline for natural gas (TCGP, Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline) from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan. But what are the chances of anything really happening? From the technical standpoint, there … Continue reading →
A significant indicator of Turkmenistan’s future diplomatic and economic course, and for the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline (TCGP) in particular, is whether new President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow will undertake a rapprochement with Azerbaijan. Former president Saparmurat Niyazov, self-styled “Turkmenbashi” (leader of Turkmens), … Continue reading →
A new triangle is emerging in East Central Eurasian geo-economics among the triangle of China Kazakhstan Russia. The significance of the agreements on energy cooperation achieved during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recently completed visit to Kazakhstan is only an indicator … Continue reading →
For much of the period since the November 1999 OSCE summit in Istanbul, this column has principally discussed developments concerning the Baku-Ceyhan main export pipeline (MEP). I wish to shift gears here for an extended review of recent events related … Continue reading →
The signing of the Istanbul Protocol on the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline at the recent OSCE meeting was highly important politically to the leaders who signed it. But the project will in the long run be more important to the peoples of … Continue reading →