WASHINGTON, June 8 (UPI) -- Since the unexpected death on Dec. 21, 2006, of Turkmenistan’s “President for life,” “Turkmenbashi (“father of the Turkmen”) Saparmurat Niyazov, Russia, the U.S. and China have been engaged in a fierce covert struggle to win dominance over Turkmenistan’s vast but largely untapped gas deposits. Two and a half years later, after offers and counter-offers, Beijing appears to have the inside track, a decision by Niyazov’s successor, President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, that will cause much hand-wringing in both Moscow and Washington, which awarded China a $3 billion contract for its massive South Iolatan gas field.

WASHINGTON, May 19 (UPI) -- Just a year ago, Gazprom, Russia's state natural gas company behemoth and the country's biggest and most powerful company, seemed to go from strength to strength. Now, however, its policies have alienated one of its largest suppliers, Turkmenistan, and if Gazprom's management does not dramatically alter its policies, then it could lose access to the 42 billion to 45 billion cubic meters of natural gas it purchases annually from Turkmenistan, perhaps for good.

Since 1991, the Caspian basin has emerged as the world’s leading untapped energy source. According to the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration, the Caspian's 143,244 square miles and attendant coastline could contain as much as 250 billion barrels of recoverable oil besides an additional 200 billion barrels of potential reserves. The five nations bordering the Caspian have yet to agree to a definitive division of the Caspian's waters and seabed, but progress was made during a meeting last week in Moscow toward a resolution of the issue.

WASHINGTON, April 13 (UPI) -- In the intense international competition for Caspian hydrocarbons that developed after the 1991 collapse of communism, Western interest focused initially on Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. Turkmenistan was regarded largely as a closed market because of the mercurial policies of its president for life, "Turkmenbashi" or "father of the Turkmen," Saparmurat Niyazov. Then as now, Gazprom took the lion's share of Turkmen gas, but a recent mysterious explosion has revealed significant rifts between Turkmenistan and its largest foreign customer.

LONDON, March 11 (UPI) -- A Global Witness report Wednesday said Europe's biggest banks were "complicit" in maintaining many of the world's ongoing social and political failures.

WASHINGTON, March 4 (UPI) -- The world’s energy companies will be focused on an upcoming series of meetings in Tehran of the Economic Cooperation Organization, a 10-nation economic forum of Muslim states, at which energy issues top the agenda. The proceedings start with the March 7-8 gathering of ECO senior officials, followed by a gathering of the ECO Council of Foreign Ministers on March 9, culminating in a March 11 summit attended by all the presidents of ECO member states.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- The deepening global recession is pounding energy companies, as oil prices continue on a downward slope. While the world's largest companies are slowing their spending, a number of smaller companies are actually prospering. One of the most prosperous smaller concerns, Dragon Oil, is finding its wealth in one of the most unlikely of energy "new frontiers" -- Turkmenistan's offshore Caspian waters.

MOSCOW, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- The 22nd European Union-Russia summit in Nice was largely symbolic, because its outcome was expected and predetermined long before the meeting.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Since 1991, Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan have disputed how to divide equitably the Caspian Sea's waters and seabed. Recent events indicate that the five coastal nations are moving toward a definitive division of the maritime assets, which will have a significant impact on global oil production. What is questionable is whether the five nations in such an instance will allow substantial Western investment.