News Digest
ANOTHER CONSORTIUM FAILS TO FIND OIL IN AZERBAIJAN
By empty (3/18/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Two wells the Japanese Azerbaijani Operational Consortium drilled in the Ateshgakh Caspian field have failed to yield oil in commercial quantities. The consortium, in which Azerbaijan\'s state oil company SOCAR has a 50 percent stake with the remaining 50 percent divided among five Japanese oil companies, will not drill a further exploratory well, but will conduct further geophysical studies at Ateshgakh and two other fields before deciding whether to self-liquidate. The contract to develop the three fields, which were said to have estimated recoverable reserves of 75 million to 90 million metric tons, was signed four years ago.ABKHAZ PARLIAMENT RATIFIES APPEAL FOR \'ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP\' OF RUSSIAN FEDERATION
By empty (3/18/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The parliament of the unrecognized Republic of Abkhazia on 18 March ratified an appeal to the Russian government to grant Abkhazia \"associate membership\" of the Russian Federation. The leaders of both Abkhazia and the similarly unrecognized Republic of South Ossetia formally requested such status for their respective republics a year ago, and the Russian State Duma responded with a statement reserving the right to consider granting such status. \"Associate status\" of the Russian Federation would oblige Abkhazia to coordinate with Russia its defense, foreign, and economic policies and formally to adopt the Russian ruble as its currency.BUSH THANKS UZBEKISTAN\'S PRESIDENT FOR SUPPORT AGAINST TERRORISM
By empty (3/18/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Uzbekistan\'s presidential press service announced on 18 March that U.S. President George W.SHELL SET TO PULL-OUT OF TURKMENISTAN
By empty (3/18/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell will reduce to a minimum its presence Turkmenistan from April 1, an official of the Central Asian country\'s oil and gas industry ministry said on Tuesday. \"Shell feels there is a lack of prospects for oil and gas projects in Turkmenistan. Just a few people will remain at its Ashkhabad office to observe developments in the oil and gas sectors,\" an official of the oil and gas industry ministry said on condition of anonymity.Visit also
Staff Publications
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, Greater Central Asia as A Component of U.S. Global Strategy, October 2024.
Analysis Laura Linderman, "Rising Stakes in Tbilisi as Elections Approach," Civil Georgia, September 7, 2024.
Analysis Mamuka Tsereteli, "U.S. Black Sea Strategy: The Georgian Connection", CEPA, February 9, 2024.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell, ed., Türkiye's Return to Central Asia and the Caucasus, July 2024.
Book Svante E. Cornell, ed., "The Changing Geopolitics of Central Asia and the Caucasus" AFPC Press/Armin LEar, 2023.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell and S. Frederick Starr, Stepping up to the “Agency Challenge”: Central Asian Diplomacy in a Time of Troubles, July 2023.
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, U.S. Policy in Central Asia through Central Asian Eyes, May 2023.