Washington needs to act decisively to ensure Turkmenistan's gas reserves do not remain under the near-total control of the Russian gas conglomerate Gazprom, a leading US expert on Central Asia said.
Energy-rich but democracy-poor former Soviet republics are wielding newfound clout in ways that pose difficult new challenges to the European Union and the wider community of democratic states. Drawing on massive energy windfalls, these post-Soviet petrostates -- first and foremost Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia -- are becoming increasingly repressive at home.
The Azerbaijani government has provoked popular anger with a series of price rises for public commodities and services. The hikes hit gasoline and public transportation, as well as natural gas, water, and electricity.
It's not hard to see why many Azerbaijanis are angry about the price hikes. The price of gasoline has gone up overnight by 50 percent. Diesel has risen by 25 percent.
A recent agreement signed with Azerbaijan and Turkey appears to have lessened Georgia's gas woes just in time for the winter. But the country's energy talks with Iran remain a wild card; both in terms of the Georgian government's relationship with the United States, and its ability to do without higher-priced Russian gas.
Kazakhstan is quietly becoming a creditor nation. While Kazakhstan still needs and solicits large-scale foreign direct investment for its own needs, including transport, pipelines and energy infrastructure, the Central Asian nation has started buying into foreign energy-related ventures.
On the industrial edges of the Uzbek city of Ferghana sits a cotton-processing factory on a few dozen acres of land. Every day the routine is the roughly same: mini-buses drop workers off at a tall, colorful concrete gate, festooned with Uzbek nationalist symbols, where a guard nods cursorily at identification papers, all the while smoking a cigarette.
From the minute you arrive in Baku, you can smell the oil.
In a glass jar it looks nothing like the black viscous substance one would expect, but more like petrol. Experts praise Azerbaijani oil as among the best in the world.
As temperatures drop below freezing in Georgia, the problem of the country's winter gas supply appears to remain unresolved. While Georgian officials emphasize that they will not pay a "political price" for gas from Russian company Gazprom, responsibility for negotiations with the energy giant has been placed on regional distributors.
As temperatures drop below freezing in Georgia, the problem of the country's winter gas supply appears to remain unresolved. While Georgian officials emphasize that they will not pay a "political price" for gas from Russian company Gazprom, responsibility for negotiations with the energy giant has been placed on regional distributors.
Russia is boosting its economic presence in Armenia, and recent acquisitions are raising new questions about the nature of Yerevan's close relationship with Moscow. Armenian President Robert Kocharian's administration is downplaying domestic opposition claims that Russia's growing economic presence poses a threat to Yerevan's sovereignty.
