Russian Gas, Pipeline Transit, European Integration, and the Fate of Ukraine
The fate of Ukraine’s gas transportation system is a bellwether for the political fate of Ukraine in the first half of the present century and beyond.
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What China wants from Canada
Prime Minister Stephen Harper expressed unhappiness with the decision to approve the purchase of the Canadian company Nexen by the Chinese “para-statal” company CNOOC, and suggested that it may be a one-off. This is unlikely, yet it still remains necessary … Continue reading →
Kazakhstan’s Resource Nationalism: Its Sources and Motives
Economic Papers 2. Washington, D.C.: George Washington University, Elliott School, Central Asia Program, September 2012. Kazakhstan’s policy of ‘resource nationalism’ scored another win in early 2012 when the North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC), which is managing the development of the … Continue reading →
Azerbaijan upstream activities move east
Azerbaijan upstream activities in oil and gas are moving into Central Asia, with two deals recently signed, the last just a few days ago, to build oil refineries in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. New Azerbaijan upstream activities in Central Asia An … Continue reading →
Slower China growth lifts stimulus prospect
Slower China growth is indicated as the headline figure increased at its lowest quarterly rate in three years, according to official data released at the weekend. Other indicators, however, gave mixed readings, leaving the prospect of further economic stimulus finely … Continue reading →
Iraqi Kurdistan plans oil pipeline to Turkey
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq has announced a plan to construct an oil pipeline to Turkey with a volume of 1 million barrels per day (bpd), move hinting at tectonic shifts in the geo-economics and associated geopolitics … Continue reading →
TANAP gas pipeline may expand fourfold
The president of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), Rovnag Abdullaev, has announced that the US$8 billion-plus Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline may be expanded four-fold from its initially planned volume of 8-16 billion cubic meters per year (bcm/y) to as … Continue reading →
Transparency in Azerbaijan: The EITI Experience
Keynote speech to the Seventh Annual Eurasian Pipelines Colloquium, “Geo-Eco Politics, Eurasian Energy, and (elusive) Transparency,” School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, 16 April 2012. Thank you. I have been asked to make some remarks on the theme … Continue reading →
How Iran Threatens Azerbaijan Sovereignty
The debate over Iran and its relations with the international community tends to gloss over how Iran threatens Azerbaijan sovereignty. It has taken on such a character that egregious errors of fact and logic cannot be allowed to stand, especially … Continue reading →
Indian economy difficult times persist
Stagflation is becoming a possibility in the Indian as the rupee and GDP growth rate fall, inflation and interest rates rise amid domestic political uncertainty over Sonia Gandhi’s medical condition following an operation in New York.
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