The great oil game

摘要

The former Soviet Republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan represent an area of vast potential, Minerial resources abound but local infrastructure needs upgrading. Today's oil rush into Central Asia has been likened by many analysts to the "Great Game" played out last century between the British Indian Army and the forces of Imperial Russia. Instead of spies and mercenaries engaged in a Nineteenth power struggle, today's game is being contested by multi-national companies anxious to explore a region that could rival the Middle East for oil production. The phrase "Great Game", coined by Rudyard Kipling in his Nineteenth Century novel Kim, described the military and political manoeuvres played out in the region. The British were continually shoring up the North West Frontier of its Indian Empire and were always wary of Russian intentions across the Pamir mountains in Central Asia.