242
Republic Day as a guest of honor, went the entire trip without mentioning the US
New Silk Road policy at all (Laruelle 2015:365).
It seems that during the Clinton era, the US was far more interested in the Central
Asian and Caspian Sea region in general, while with the advent of the New Silk
Road Strategy, the main concentration was limited to energy cooperation between
Central Asia and South Asia. The US’ major focus here lay on the TAPI project. The
US strongly supported exporting Turkmen gas to South Asia via TAPI and to Europe
via Trans-Caspian Pipeline projects. During Bush and Obama administrations both
supported these projects, and it remains to be seen that Trump administration would
support such projects as well.
The Nabucco Failure
Many observers have charged the US with focusing far too greatly on the success of
the Nabucco project throughout the 2000s as a means to connect Caspian gas with
the EU market. The failure rested on the inability of diplomats blinded by the success of the BTC pipeline to recognize the significant differences between gas and oil
pipelines in terms of how they are organized and financed.
Furthermore, it is an issue which could only afflict the US and EU given their
emphasis on open markets, as—unlike China and Russia—the West’s commercial
entities act as they wish regardless of where their governments direct them to invest.
Essentially the wrong lessons were learnt from the success of the BTC in that oil
supplies are a buyer’s market, whereas gas must have a clear recipient, and despite
having six project sponsors, there was no secured market for 33 bcm gas. No one
party was in a position to fund such an expensive endeavor. And thus it was only
natural the TAPI was eventually selected as the most viable project.
The Advent of the Shale Gas Revolution
It has been pointed out by many that George W. Bush’s administration was only
naturally disposed toward international oil ventures given many of its principal figures, including Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice, were closely associated with
oil companies. In fact, while Republicans in the United States are often found in the
upper echelons of the oil industry, the heads of more technical aspects of the economy, such as IT and the Stock Exchange, tend to attract more future Democratic
leaders and donors. And thus while it is often agreed that the “Shale Revolution”
which occurred under President Obama’s tenure may have been a private sector
affair, it has been remarked that no Republican president in the US would have
dared to allow extensive fracking within the United States given the lack of political
support they rely on from that emerging industry (Laruelle 2015:365).
7 Conclusion
Republic Day as a guest of honor, went the entire trip without mentioning the US
New Silk Road policy at all (Laruelle 2015:365).
It seems that during the Clinton era, the US was far more interested in the Central
Asian and Caspian Sea region in general, while with the advent of the New Silk
Road Strategy, the main concentration was limited to energy cooperation between
Central Asia and South Asia. The US’ major focus here lay on the TAPI project. The
US strongly supported exporting Turkmen gas to South Asia via TAPI and to Europe
via Trans-Caspian Pipeline projects. During Bush and Obama administrations both
supported these projects, and it remains to be seen that Trump administration would
support such projects as well.
The Nabucco Failure
Many observers have charged the US with focusing far too greatly on the success of
the Nabucco project throughout the 2000s as a means to connect Caspian gas with
the EU market. The failure rested on the inability of diplomats blinded by the success of the BTC pipeline to recognize the significant differences between gas and oil
pipelines in terms of how they are organized and financed.
Furthermore, it is an issue which could only afflict the US and EU given their
emphasis on open markets, as—unlike China and Russia—the West’s commercial
entities act as they wish regardless of where their governments direct them to invest.
Essentially the wrong lessons were learnt from the success of the BTC in that oil
supplies are a buyer’s market, whereas gas must have a clear recipient, and despite
having six project sponsors, there was no secured market for 33 bcm gas. No one
party was in a position to fund such an expensive endeavor. And thus it was only
natural the TAPI was eventually selected as the most viable project.
The Advent of the Shale Gas Revolution
It has been pointed out by many that George W. Bush’s administration was only
naturally disposed toward international oil ventures given many of its principal figures, including Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice, were closely associated with
oil companies. In fact, while Republicans in the United States are often found in the
upper echelons of the oil industry, the heads of more technical aspects of the economy, such as IT and the Stock Exchange, tend to attract more future Democratic
leaders and donors. And thus while it is often agreed that the “Shale Revolution”
which occurred under President Obama’s tenure may have been a private sector
affair, it has been remarked that no Republican president in the US would have
dared to allow extensive fracking within the United States given the lack of political
support they rely on from that emerging industry (Laruelle 2015:365).
7 Conclusion