Between East and West: Central Asia at a crossroads

The region holds huge gas and oil reserves, but getting those resources to market poses challenges

Geopolitical factors present challenges and opportunities for the resource-rich nations of Central Asia. The region is situated between the demand centres of Europe and China, but hemmed in by what are—at least in the West—international pariah states in Russia and Iran. It is also cut off from easy access to open oceans and hence reliant on pipelines to access markets. Moscow still has significant political and economic sway in these former Soviet republics, further complicating the geopolitical balancing act for governments, NOCs and IOCs since the Ukraine invasion. And the region’s autocrats in recent years have ranged from the relatively competent and business-friendly to the brutal, cor

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