Energy Geopolitics and the New Great Game in Central Asia

2021 ◽  
pp. 097639962110032
Author(s):  
Ramakrushna Pradhan

Energy has become the symbol of 21st-century geopolitics. Asia in this geopolitical game is considered to be the ground zero. As of 2021, at least a quarter of the world’s liquid hydrocarbons are consumed by China, India, Japan and South Korea. Over the next 20 years, 85% of the growth in energy consumption will come from the Indo-Pacific region. According to the World Energy Outlook, China will account for 40% of the growing consumption until 2025, after which India will emerge as the biggest single source of increasing demand. The increase in demand for gas will overtake that for oil and coal combined. Part of the story here is that the Indo-Pacific region will become increasingly reliant on oil from the Middle East and Central Asia. By 2030, 80% of Chinese oil will be imported while 90% in the case of India. But Japan and South Korea will remain 100% dependent on oil imports. Where from these huge amounts of oil and gas will come? The scramble for oil and gas in Central Asia probably is the right answer to the question asked. To materialize the quest for oil and energy, many countries although lately but turned towards Central Asia for sure. With this premise, the present article attempts to contextualize the geopolitics of energy in Central Asia and tries to investigate the nature and contour of the great game while illustrating the unflinching importance of the region for global energy security in general and the Indian energy security in particular.

Author(s):  
Morgandi Tibisay ◽  
Viñuales Jorge E

This chapter investigates the concept of ‘energy security’, understood as the ‘uninterrupted availability of energy resources at an affordable price’. Importantly, according to this definition, the ‘availability’ of energy resources is measured against existing energy demand, and threats to energy security are therefore threats to the supply of enough energy to meet existing energy demand. Energy supply depends upon both domestic and international factors which are so interconnected that it is difficult to distinguish where one starts and the other ends. What is clear, however, is that international law plays a fundamental role in addressing many threats to energy security. The chapter looks at existing threats to energy security and the international legal frameworks that have been established in response. The challenges to energy security include an exponential increase in world energy demand, shortages of national oil and gas deposits, the need to reduce dependence on fossil fuel production in order to counteract climate change, as well as risks of geopolitical instability. The chapter then focuses on the mechanisms aimed to ensure that the flow of energy remains uninterrupted and at an affordable price, as well as on those mechanisms aimed at increasing access to energy resources.


Politics ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 147-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Lanteigne

China has made significant strides in developing energy diplomacy in the former Soviet states of Central Asia in the name of diversifying its trading partners. However, the case of Turkmenistan, currently undergoing a complicated leadership transition, provides evidence of China's potential limitations in engaging Central Asia in the hopes of securing nearby sources of oil and gas. The ongoing problems of post-Soviet governance in Ashgabat and increasing competition for Turkmen natural gas suggest that Beijing may have to better define its economic interests there and allow for increased regional co-operation building to better manage its Central Asian energy trade.


2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 127
Author(s):  
Aigerim Ibrayeva ◽  
Raikhan Tashtemkhanova ◽  
Aigerim Ospanova ◽  
Baubek Somzhurek ◽  
Aiman Azmukhanova

Energy security has emerged in recent years as one of the cornerstones of the European Union’s (EU’s) foreign policy. The EU is highly dependent on imports of oil and gas, 35 per cent of which comes from Russia. Diversification of energy supplies is thus a key goal for the EU. The Caspian region contains some of the largest undeveloped oil and gas reserves in the world. The intense interest shown by the major international oil and gas companies testifies to its potential. Although the area is unlikely to become “another Middle East”, it could become a major oil supplier at the margin, much as the North Sea is today. As such it could help increase world energy security by diversifying global sources of supply. Development of the region’s resources still faces considerable obstacles. This study focuses on the countries along the southern rim of the former Soviet Union that are endowed with significant oil and gas resources: Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia, and Azerbaijan in Transcaucasia. The Southern Energy Corridor (SEC), which aims to link Caspian Basin and potentially Middle East gas supplies to Europe, is one of the EU’s six priority axes of energy infrastructures. Drawing on the external governance literature, this article provides an analysis of the EU’s efforts in the wider Black Sea area to increase its energy security. It concludes that despite difficult domestic and geopolitical obstacles, the EU is pushing forward its objective to establish the SEC.


2019 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
pp. 472-489
Author(s):  
Ramakrushna Pradhan

The fight for hegemony in Central Asia has existed for ages. Strategically placed between two nuclear powers—Russia and China—and geopolitically located at the heart of Eurasia, Central Asia has always remained in global limelight. Even after the disintegration of the USSR, the geopolitical importance of Central Asia never waned down, instead emerged as a grand chessboard for regional and extra-regional player for the immense opportunities it has offered in the form of widely untapped natural resources and geostrategic leverages. Importantly, it has emerged as the latest geological landscape for the energy crunch countries as potentially new and non-OPEC source of oil and natural gas. In the quest for energy security and diversity of supply sources by the energy consumers, the heartland region has witnessed a new great game in the scramble for resources. This accentuated struggle for oil and energy in the region has further led to aggressive foreign policy formulations and strategic calculation by countries like the United States, China, European Union, Japan, Israel, Iran, Pakistan and India, to which many now call as the New Great Game for not just controlling but administering the energy resources of the region. The bottom line of the New Great Game unlike the previous version is essentially played out around petropolitics and pipeline diplomacy. It is in this context this research article makes a modest attempt to examine the energy factor in the geopolitics of Central Asia and tries to figure out the position of India in the epic quest for oil in the traditional bastion of Russia and the new grand chessboard of China and the United States.


2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Simons

The global energy landscape continues to be in a state of flux and understanding the ongoing shifts in markets, technology and policy—and the impact of this interplay on the energy sector—has never been more critical. Each year, the IEA’s World Energy Outlook provides updated and comprehensive quantitative modelling and analysis on the evolution of the global energy system, incorporating the latest data and market developments. Amb Paul Simons will outline the key findings of the most recent edition of the World Energy Outlook, including the outlook for global oil and gas markets, and explain their implications for energy security, sustainability and growth. He will also cover recent developments and future prospects for a range of low-carbon technologies, including renewables, nuclear power, hydrogen and CCUS, that will be needed to speed up global clean energy transitions. To view the video, click the link on the right.


2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 123
Author(s):  
M Faris Alfadh

This paper attempts to explain Russia’s energy security untill the next decade, and its impact on energy security of the Asia-Pacific region. As the world’s largest natural gas reserves and the second largest producer of crude oil, Russia is very important to the world energy markets. But for Russia, energy is not merely as a driving factor for its economic growth, but also as a political forse in its international relations. Russia’s ambitions are to become the world’s largest energy producer and the most influential to the world energy market. In this case, the Asia-Pacific region becomes important given the huge market potential. However, Russia’s energy security policy does not have entirely a positive impact on the stability of energy supply in the Asia-Pacific region. The market vulnerability and unfair competition among countries in the Asia-Pacific region will increase along with the Russia’s energy security policy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 216-246
Author(s):  
Ramakrushna Pradhan

The global energy scenario is undergoing a tectonic shift in recent times. While energy security has been emerging as one of the cornerstones of the foreign policy of major countries, a new geological survey has the promise of new discoveries and reserves untapped. One such epic new frontier of the world geological survey has been the post-Soviet Central Asia consisting of five “Stans” of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, along with the Caspian Sea region. Sitting on huge untapped hydrocarbon potentials, the Central Asian geographical entity in recent years has offered enormous opportunity and appeal for countries adjacent to the region and far beyond. That is perhaps the reason that even after the disintegration of the USSR, the geopolitical importance of Central Asia has never waned down, instead it emerged as a grand chessboard for regional and extra-regional players for the immense opportunities it offered for the energy-crunch countries as potentially new and non-OPEC source of oil and natural gas. In the quest for energy security and diversity of supply sources by energy consumers, the heartland has witnessed a new great game in the scramble for resources. This accentuated struggle for oil and energy in the region has further led to aggressive foreign policy formulations and strategic calculation by countries such as the United States, China, the European Union, Japan, Israel, Iran, Pakistan, and India, to which many now call “the New Great Game” for not just controlling but administering energy resources of the region. The bottom line of the New Great Game, unlike the previous version, is essentially played out around petropolitics and pipeline diplomacy. To support the scramble for energy in Central Asia and the aggressive petropolitics and pipeline diplomacy by major powers, the study adopts the peak oil theory of Club of Rome thesis to understand the global tectonic shift of energy frontiers. Further, this article attempts to examine the position of India in Central Asia and its policy initiatives in the epic quest for oil and energy in the traditional bastion of Russia and the new grand chessboard of China and the United States.


Jurnal Hukum ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 1833
Author(s):  
Rihantoro Bayu Aji

 AbstractActually the existence of foreign investment in Indonesia is not new phenomenon, due to foreign investment exist since colonialism era.The existence of foreign investment is still continuing to Soeharto era until reformation era. Spirit of foreign investment in colonialism era, Soharto era, and reformation era are different. Foreign investment in colonialsm era just explore of nation asset and ignore of nation welfare, and this matter is different from the character of foreign investment in Soeharto era also reformation era. Eventhough the involvement of foreign investor have any benefits to the host country, but on the other hand foreign investment have business oriented only whether the investment is secure and may result of profit. Refer to The Law Number 25 Year of 2007 Concerning Investment (hereinafter called UUPM) can not be separated from various interest that become of politic background of the law, even the law tend to liberalism of investment. Liberalism in the investment sector particularly of foreign investment basically exist far from issuing of UUPM, and the spirit of liberalism also stipulate in several rules among others The Law Number 5 Year of 1999 Concerning Prohibitation of Anti Trust and Unfair Competition, The Law Number 22 Year of 2001 Concerning Oil and Gas, The Law Number 7 Year of 2004 Concerning Water Resource, and also The Law Number 30 Year of 2009 Concerning Electricity.   Many rules as mentioned above has liberalism character and also indicator opposite wit the right to manage of the state to nation asset that relate to public interest as stipulated in the Indonesia Constitution. Actually the issuing of UUPM in case of implementation of article 33 Indonesia Constitution (UUD NRI 1945). Due to opportunity by Government to foreign investment as stipulate by article 12 UUPM and also the existence of many rules as well as The Law Number 5 Year of 1999 Concerning Prohibitation of Anti Trust and Unfair Competition, The Law Number 22 Year of 2001 Concerning Oil and Gas, The Law Number 7 Year of 2004 Concerning Water Resource, and also The Law Number 30 Year of 2009 Concerning Electricity, so the foreign investment that relate to public service is more exist in Indonesia. The existence is reflected many foreign companies. Free of foreign investment relate to public service is opposite with spirit of article 33 Indonesia Constitution. Keywords: Foreign Investment, Right of  State, Article 33 Indonesia Consitution AbstrakEksistensi penanaman modal asing (investasi asing) di Indonesia sebenarnya bukan merupakan fenomena baru di Indonesia, mengingat modal asing telah hadir di Indonesia sejak zaman kolonial dahulu.   Eksistensi penanaman modal asing terus berlanjut pada era orde baru sampai dengan era reformasi. Tentunya semangat penanaman modal asing pada saat era kolonial, era orde baru, dan era reformasi adalah berbeda. Penanaman modal asing pada saat era kolonial memiliki karakter eksploitatif atas aset bangsa dan mengabaikan kesejahteraan rakyat, hal ini tentunya berbeda dengan karakter penanaman modal asing pada era orde baru, dan era reformasi. Sekalipun kehadiran investor membawa manfaat bagi negara penerima modal, di sisi lain investor yang hendak menanamkan modalnya juga tidak lepas dari orientasi bisnis (oriented business), apakah modal yang diinvestasikan aman dan bisa menghasilkan keuntungan. Melihat eksistensi Undang–Undang Nomor 25 Tahun 2007 tentang Penanaman Modal (UUPM) tidak dapat dilepaskan dari beragam kepentingan yang mendasari untuk diterbitkannya undang–undang tersebut, bahkan terdapat kecenderungan semangat dari UUPM lebih cenderung kepada liberalisasi investasi. Liberalisasi pada sektor investasi khususnya investasi asing pada dasarnya eksis jauh sebelum lahirnya UUPM ternyata juga tampak secara tersirat dalam beberapa peraturan perundang–undangan di Indonesia. Perundang–undangan tersebut antara lain Undang–Undang Nomor 5 Tahun 1999 tentang Larangan Praktek Monopoli dan Persaingan Usaha Tidak Sehat, Undang–Undang Nomor 22 Tahun 2001 tentang Minyak Dan Gas Bumi, Undang–Undang Nomor 7 Tahun 2004 tentang Sumber Daya Air, dan Undang–Undang Nomor 30 Tahun 2009 tentang Ketenagalistrikan.Banyaknya peraturan perundang–undangan yang berkarakter liberal sebagaimana diuraikan di atas mengindikasikan bahwa hak menguasai negara atas aset bangsa yang berkaitan dengan hajat hidup orang banyak sebagaimana diamahkan oleh Undang–Undang Dasar 1945 (Konstitusi) mulai “dikebiri” dengan adanya undang–undang yang tidak selaras semangatnya. Padahal, UUPM diterbitkan dalam kerangka mengimplementasikan amanat Pasal 33 Undang–Undang Dasar Negara Republik Indonesia Tahun 1945 (UUD NRI 1945). Dengan adanya peluang yang diberikan oleh pemerintah kepada investor asing sebagaimana yang diatur dalam Pasal 12 UUPM ditambah lagi dengan adanya Undang–Undang Nomor 5 Tahun 1999 tentang Larangan Praktek Monopoli dan Persaingan Usaha Tidak Sehat, Undang–Undang Nomor 22 Tahun 2001 tentang Minyak Dan Gas Bumi, Undang–Undang Nomor 7 Tahun 2004 tentang Sumber Daya Air, dan Undang–Undang Nomor 30 Tahun 2009 tentang Ketenagalistrikan, maka investasi asing yang berhubungan dengan cabang– cabang yang menguasai hajat hidup orang banyak semakin eksis di Indonesia. Terbukanya investasi asing atas cabang–cabang produksi yang menguasai hajat hidup orang banyak tentunya hal ini bertentangan dengan konsep hak menguasai negara sebagaimana diatur dalam Pasal 33 UUD NRI 1945. Kata Kunci: Investasi Asing, Hak Menguasai Negara, Pasal 33 UUD NRI Tahun          1945


2019 ◽  
pp. 323-329
Author(s):  
Y. JIA

Since 2007, the use of natural gas in China depends on the import, and with an increase in natural gas consumption, gas imports are also constantly growing. In 2018, Chinas natural gas imports approached 100 billion cubic meters, which is 70 times more than in 2006. In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to the use of natural gas in China. Turkmenistan is Chinas main source of pipeline gas imports, and China is Turkmenistans largest exporter of natural gas. In the framework of the traditional model of oil and gas cooperation, China and Turkmenistan are facing such problems as the uniform content of cooperation, lack of close ties in the field of multilateral cooperation and slow progress in the development of the entire industrial chain. Cooperation between China and Central Asia in the field of oil and gas is increasingly affecting the nerves of other countries, except the five countries of Central Asia, but including Russia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Iran and other countries of the Middle East, Japan, South Korea, etc. and even the European Union and the USA. Despite the favorable trading environment for both parties, there are also problems in the domestic market of Turkmenistan and the risks of international competition.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document