Putin's bid for Caspian natural gas forces the other players to reassess their options
Article from: OGEL 4 (2007), in Geopolitics of Energy
Introduction
Putin's tour of Central Asia, culminating on 12 May 2007 in the trilateral Russia-Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan meeting, was of global significance, with immediate implications for the EU and Southeast Europe. Before going into how the Moscow-Astana-Ashgabat agreement impacts Western interests, let's look at the objectives of the Russian president's trip. His basic pursuit was the creation of a natural gas pipeline (along the Caspian coastlines of the three countries); a conduit for Turkmen natural gas through Kazakhstan to Russia, from where it can be transported to European markets. ...