Kazakhstan Expands Gas Transit Pipeline Capacities and Own Exports to China
The longest section of the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-China transit pipeline passes through Kazakhstan’s territory: it measures 1,115 kilometers in length, of the total 1,830-kilometer Turkmenistan-China distance. Kazakhstan is adding a dedicated export pipeline for its own gas exports to China. In combination, these developments (alongside planned oil exports) confer to Kazakhstan a major role in China’s energy security calculations. READ MORE
Kyrgyzstan Signs NATO Reverse Transit Agreement
On May 22, during the NATO Summit in Chicago, Kyrgyzstan’s Foreign Minister Ruslan Kazakbaev and NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow signed an agreement on ground transport routes for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), allowing the country to actively support the complex drawdown of Alliance forces from Afghanistan. Kyrgyzstan’s foreign ministry believes that the new accord with NATO is not only in the interest of stabilizing Afghanistan, but will also contribute to the future security of Central Asia. READ MORE
Kazakhstan Defended Its Interests for Oil Transit via Batumi Black Sea Port
More than 70% of Kazakhstani oil from the scope of oil exported to world markets via the so-called Caucasian corridor, shall flow through the Black Sea port of Batumi, which as known is a property of national company of our Republican “KazMunajGaz”. READ MORE
Presidential Campaign In Kyrgyzstan Focuses On US Transit Center
On August 15, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev promised he will end the contract with Washington on the US Transit Center in Bishkek in 2014, when the International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) plans to withdraw from Afghanistan. “The contract for the Transit Center will expire in 2014. Our position is the following: we will notify in six months the US side of the termination of the contract in full compliance with assumed obligations and from 2014 there will be the first major civilian international transport junction,” the prime minister said . READ MORE
Estonian transit shows growth but fears Russia
TALLINN - Estonia’s transit industry continues to show double-digit growth in 2011. This is a very encouraging sign for the economy, and leads analysts to speculate that the transit sector would be a lucrative investment in the future. Estonia is uniquely positioned to capture a significant share of the transit market between Russia and Scandinavia, Western Europe and the Baltics. READ MORE
Solutions for Russian-Ukrainian Gas Brinksmanship
Tensions between Ukraine and Russia are not new, but their resurgence bodes ill for European energy security. This latest dispute between Europe’s largest natural gas supplying state and its key gas transit state should be a warning flag to Europe that, despite efforts by the IMF and other countries, the underlying causes of the dispute that left Europe without gas for heating and electricity in 2009 remain unresolved and require European intervention. Below we describe the nature of the problem and propose an approach for addressing one of Europe’s most important energy security problems. READ MORE
Nabucco And Baku–Ashkhabad’s Contraposition
Today the gas pipeline Nabucco is probably the most important Western energy project in Eurasia. If implemented, it would significantly reduce energy dependence of the EU on Russia. Therefore Nabucco acquires a wide geopolitical dimension exceeding its possible economic benefit. READ MORE
Russia-Belarus Oil Dispute Threatens Europe’s Supply
Russia and Belarus have failed to renew an agreement on crude oil export tariffs that expired on New Year’s Eve, raising the prospect that yet another otherwise unremarkable energy pricing dispute between Russia and a neighbor could unravel into a midwinter fuel shut-off on the Continent. READ MORE
