Given all the news this week of Russia and Italy's South Stream deal with Turkey in exchange for a nuclear power plant, I thought I would repost an article written by Robert Amsterdam last fall in Energy Risk on Turkey's political pipelines.

FROM OCT. 2008, ENERGY RISK:

Turkey's political pipelines

Turkey's strategic position at the crossroads of East and West has put it at the centre of a geopolitical tug of war, with energy supply a key driver. Robert Amsterdam examines the energy policies being brought to bear in the region

Turkey's role in global affairs is defined by its geostrategic importance as the bridge between Europe and the Near East. Following Russia's invasion and occupation of Georgia in August, which caused considerable energy supply jitters, Turkey was once again thrust into the spotlight as the European

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Ariel Cohen has a new piece in the Washington Times, which has some very interesting material on Russia's growing diplomatic overtures to Mongolia to seal up uranium supplies, as well as some info on a letter sent by President Barack Obama to the president of Azeribaijan (let's see if Ilham Aliyev treats him a bit better than Dick Cheney).As the rain falls on St. Petersburg's glitzy economic forum and the Obama administration plans its summit meeting with Mr. Putin and Mr. Medvedev in July to negotiate Moscow's accession to the World Trade Organization, Russia is consolidating its geostrategic advantage from the Gobi desert to the Black Sea. The U.S. and Europe had better take notice. While the talk of high-tech diversification appeals to Western businessmen, the real show is happening thousands of miles away from the capital Peter the Great built on these grim ...

TODAY: Putin likens Oleg Deripaska and other Pikalyovo factory owners to 'cockroaches' in open castigation of the super-rich; fears of social unrest due to unemployment becoming a reality?; Poland angered by Russian 'rewrite' of the origins of World War TwoPrime Minister Putin has made an all-guns-blazing appearance in Pikalyovo to reprimand the owners of the town's three factories and instruct them to pay their workers' wages, in what Bloomberg calls 'the most visible industrial action in Russia since the Siberian miners' strike of 1998.'  He launched a stinging attack on the businessmen behind the wage arrears, including Oleg Deripaska, saying: 'you have made thousands of people hostages to your ambitions, your lack of professionalism -- or maybe simply your trivial greed'.  He also ...

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev has said that he would like Russia to act as a transit route for Azerbaijan gas to Europe.  Medvedev feels Gazprom has a 'very high chance of entering into a full agreement' on buying gas from Azerbaijan.  Gazprom Neft will sell $299 million of bonds in rubles as a first offering of domestic debt.  In the future, Russia could export as much 40 million tons of biofuels to Europe.  Lukoil is apparently interested in entering the Italian wholesale and retail distribution market.  Rosneft has declined to comment upon reports in the Sunday Times that it may make a bid for Sibir Energy.  Chinese company CNOON says it will not purchase foreign oil firms during the global recession period.  Hungary's new prime minister, Gordon Bajnai, is 'unhappy' with the Surgutneftegaz and ...

Russia's greenhouse gas output has reached its highest level since the 1990s.  Prime Minister Putin has taken a conciliatory tone in the Turkmenistan dispute, encouraging energy specialists 'to maintain close contacts ... with our strategic partners ... Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan'.  This coincides with Medvedev's imminent meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to discuss gas deliveries from Azerbaijan.  Germany's RWE has come to an agreement with Turkmenistan to develop ways of delivering gas to Europe.  Bulgarian President Georgy Parvanov and Qatar's Emir are considering the possibility of building a LNG terminal in Bulgaria.  The EU member states have come to an agreement to use $5.3 billion of unused funds for energy efficiency measures.  Russian companies have scrapped plans to make bioethanol from grain, due to legal obstacles.  This year a group led by Exxon Mobil will invest ...

Last week, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) cut its 2009 growth forecast for Azerbaijan from 15% to 8%, which still ranks the country the second best performer in the ex-communist region, after Turkmenistan.  On Wednesday, President Ilham Aliyev projected ‘09 growth of 10%,  citing the fact that the Caspian oil producer had  to stabilize crude prices with oil output cuts.  “The times when we had [growth] of 25-30% are over–it is not possible to repeat this,” he lamented.  Azerbaijan is adjusting to lower export revenues after a boom which saw an average GDP growth of 21.1% between 2003 and 2007. Aliyev stated that his country would continue to cooperate with OPEC, though it is not an official member.  Last year it announced at an OPEC meeting in Algeria that it would cut production by 300,000 barrels per day ...

One would think that Azeri President Ilham Aliyev would be pretty pleased to receive Vice President Dick Cheney's official delegation a few weeks ago - it was after all the highest ranking U.S. politician to ever visit the country. However that's not quite how it played out. Amid numerous reports that the meetings in Baku were cool if not cold, Aliyev additionally snubbed Cheney by not showing up to the airport to welcome him, and then immediately telephoned Medvedev right after their meeting to explain what the U.S. energy strategy is for the region. This made the mercurial vice president so angry that he apparently skipped town on a dinner to be held in his honor. The Russian press has been having a field day parading the "failure" of the Cheney delegation to hardball the Azeris into energy supply commitments ...

One would think that Azeri President Ilham Aliyev would be pretty pleased to receive Vice President Dick Cheney's official delegation a few weeks ago - it was after all the highest ranking U.S. politician to ever visit the country. However that's not quite how it played out. Amid numerous reports that the meetings in Baku were cool if not cold, Aliyev additionally snubbed Cheney by not showing up to the airport to welcome him, and then immediately telephoned Medvedev right after their meeting to explain what the U.S. energy strategy is for the region. This made the mercurial vice president so angry that he apparently skipped town on a dinner to be held in his honor. The Russian press has been having a field day parading the "failure" of the Cheney delegation to hardball the Azeris into energy supply commitments ...