The changing geo-economic environment around the Central Asian and South Caucasus hydrocarbon energy producers is reflected in a public flip-flop by a major European Union official this week. At a news conference in Berlin, European Union Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger, … Continue reading →
Recent progress towards agreement on the possibilities for constructing a Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline (TCGP), in the context of the European Union’s Southern Corridor Program, has drawn attention away from moves towards the elaboration of smaller-scale projects for the trans-Caspian transit … Continue reading →
Kazakhstan has three major regions. Large parts of the west are desert or swamp; the population density generally very low, and the development of energy resources has encouraged local elites to explore the margins of their autonomy vis-à-vis the political … Continue reading →
Contents1 Incident2 Significance3 Background4 Bottom Line Incident Two largely unrelated but simultaneous incidents–a renewal of the eurozone debt crisis and a precipitous fall in the valuations on the Chinese stock market–have reawakened fears of global financial instability and reminded that … Continue reading →
Contents1 Incident2 Significance3 Background4 Bottom Line Incident The EU’s president Jose Manuel Barroso, visiting Baku with energy commissioner Guenther Oettinger, has signed an agreement with Azerbaijan’s president Ilham Aliev foreseeing the sale of “substantial volumes of gas over the long … Continue reading →
Three recent developments testify to the latent dynamism of the Kazakhstan energy growth. These concern an extension of industrial cooperation with Ukraine and with India, and new plans for increasing the capacity of the pipeline of the Caspian Pipeline Corporation … Continue reading →
The visit by Turkey’s foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu to Beijing a week ago, follows by a scant three weeks the visit by China’s prime minister Wen Jiabao’s to Ankara on October 7-8 as part of the latter’s European diplomatic tour … Continue reading →
Ukraine looks likely soon to join the growing list of Azerbaijan energy export partners, as Baku continues to add to its findings of offshore natural gas. Ukraine is preparing to build its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal to reduce … Continue reading →
Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbaev has just completed a two-day official visit to enhance Kazakhstan-European Union relations. He went to Belgium, the present chairman-in-office of the European Union Council, and France. Kazakhstan is itself president-in-office of the Organization for Security and … Continue reading →
Currency devaluation and banking reforms appear to have set Kazakhstan strongly on the road to recovery. A ministerial shake-up, which appears more rational than President Nursultan Nazarbaev’s usual reorganizations, and higher oil export duties next year, should help to maintain the economy’s strength
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