Book review : the natural gas exports of Turkmenistan. energy and geopolitical interests in the caspian region

After the decline of the Soviet Union and the emergence of independent states, the southern Soviet republics opened their resources to international markets and began to develop their own political ambitions at the same time. Turkmenistan, as the country with the fourth largest reserves of natural gas (2014 estimated with 9.93 % of worldwide natural gas reserves) and as the most important supplier to China of this energy source takes a special place in the political configuration of post-Soviet Central Asia. In his recently published doctoral thesis, Heinrich Schulz analyses the questions why the country hasn’t realized the export of natural gas to Turkey and Europe yet, and how Turkmenistan is influenced by energy political interests and geopolitics in the Caspian Region. The monograph also introduces general political issues regarding natural gas, pipeline infrastructure, and foreign trade of fossil fuels in Central Asia.