Russia’s Gas Crisis Prompting Central Asian Countries to Look Elsewhere for Fuel, Kazakh Commentator Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 27 – Gas shortages in Russia are not only beginning to have a political impact at home but a geopolitical one at home and not just because of Moscow’s much publicized effort to find other countries who will see it gasoline to fill the tanks of Russian automobiles, Askar Kubayzhanov says.

            Even more significant, the Kazakh commentator says, is the fact that Russia’s gas shortages are prompting the countries of Central Asia to seek new suppliers of fuel because they can no longer count on Russian deliveries (timesca.com/russia-fuel-crisis-pushes-central-asia-to-seek-alternatives/).

            As Kubayzhanov documents, given Russia’s problems, “Kyrgyzstan is arranging supplies from China; Tajikistan has requested large volumes of crude oil and fuel from Iran, while Kazakhstan plans to more than double its refining capacity and eventually sell more petroleum products to its neighbors.”

            To be sure, he continues, “Russian refineries will most likely restore capacity sooner or later. But the contacts established with new suppliers and the alternative routes tested will remain as will the investment in domestic refining.” And those changes now will contribute to a further decline of Moscow’s influence in Central Asia.