Friday , August 21 2026
  • My New Book

    US Energy Diplomacy in the Caspian Sea Basin: Changing Trends Since2001 - Available on Springer

  • My New Book

    US Energy Diplomacy in the Caspian Sea Basin: Changing Trends Since2001 - Available on Amazon

Recent Articles

Turkey’s gas pivot leaves Iran with fewer cards to play

A worker at a natural gas facility in Iran. Turkey imported 4.536 bcm of Iranian gas in the first half of 2026, up 34 percent from a year earlier.

he expiry of a 25-year gas contract has exposed a shift in the Iran-Turkey energy relationship, with Ankara now enjoying more supply options while Tehran risks losing one of its most dependable export markets. The contract expired on July 29 after governing Iranian pipeline gas supplies to Turkey for 25 …

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Who really owns the Caspian Sea?

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Caspian Sea's legal status has been the subject of lengthy negotiations among its five bordering states

Amir Soltanzadeh 08/19/2026August 19, 2026 Five countries border the Caspian Sea, but none owns a fixed share. A 2018 convention established rules for navigation, security and fishing while leaving some seabed borders unresolved. For decades, debate in Iran over the Caspian Sea has often centered on a deceptively simple question: What percentage …

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Does Geothermal Energy Have a Future in Iran?

A power station in Shiraz, Iran. Shutterstock

Geothermal Projects Carry Substantial Risk Because Unsuccessful Wells or Underperforming Reservoirs Can Absorb CapitalThere is little good news inside Iran regarding electricity. The government long ago instituted rotations of blackouts and brownouts to manage shortages, but even these are no longer predictable. Although Iranian officials might blame the war, the …

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From Manisa to Szeged: BYD’s shifting European investment strategy

BYD electric vehicle. [Photo by Tiago Ferreira on Unsplash]

In June 2026, Chinese electric-vehicle manufacturer BYD confirmed that its planned $1 billion electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle factory in Manisa, western Turkiye, had been placed on indefinite hold. The project, signed with great ceremony in July 2024 in the presence of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, had been presented as a …

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From the Gulf to the Mediterranean: Energy infrastructure in the line of fire

In Egypt, River Nile in Damietta [Mohamed Eissa/Wikipedia]

On 29th July 2026, a suspected drone struck the Energos Winter, a US-owned floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), at Egypt’s Damietta port. The resulting fire spread to the nearby Gaslog Salem. Both crews were evacuated, the fire was contained, and no casualties were reported. Maritime security firms Ambrey and Vanguard identified …

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Starting gun for Central Asia data center race triggered

Saudi Arabia-backed TAS-1 is being built in Tashkent by DataVolt and its first phase will be completed by year-end. (DataVolt)

Saudi-backed Uzbek project to open year-end; Nvidia-supported Kazakh campus takes shape TASHKENT/ISTANBUL — The race to build data centers in Central Asia is intensifying, with Uzbekistan set to complete the first phase of a facility by year-end and Kazakhstan’s Nvidia-backed project expected to offer 125 megawatts by 2027. Uzbekistan’s TAS-1 …

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Iran signals gas price hike as fuel crisis looms

Image: Vahid Salemi/AP Photo/picture alliance

Amir Soltanzadeh Iranian authorities want to dampen fuel consumption, but a sudden increase in gasoline prices risks social unrest as many Iranian households are already under severe economic pressure Iran is moving closer to politically sensitive changes in gasoline pricing as the government struggles with a widening gap between domestic …

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