Title: New Dimensions of the Great Caspian Energy Game Author: Mariana Liakopoulou Series: Energy Security Program Research Study No.1 Date: August 2020
The global commodity market and national energy policy devel-opments have affected US and European willingness to continue pursuit of their geopolitical and economic interests in the Cas-pian-region and Central Asian oil- and gas-producing states. This is a shift from the 1990s and early 2000s, when important projects were commissioned. However, these shifts in US and the EU energy policies, combined with ongoing market develop-ments, do not imply that those Caspian-region and Central Asian states are losing their geopolitical significance.
Mariana Liakopoulou is a research analyst focusing on natural gas security of supply, geopolitics and decarbonization in the European and Eurasian energy markets. She serves as Research Fellow in Energy Security with the NATO Association of Canada (Toronto, Ontario, Canada). She is also Editor-in-Chief of the Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Energy Transitions Series (London, U.K.). In that capacity, she oversees and contributes to the drafting of “The Palgrave Handbook of Zero Carbon Energy Systems and Energy Transitions”, a book project aiming to provide an inter- and multi-disciplinary comprehensive analysis, knowledge and overview of zero-carbon energy systems, energy transitions and related areas. Formerly, Mariana was a consultant and member of the Roster of Experts of the Energy Community Secretariat (Vienna, Austria). Before that, she was a non-resident Research Fellow in Energy Security and Geopolitics with the Caspian Policy Center (Washington D.C.) and a member of the Strategy and Communication Team of the European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (Ljubljana, Slovenia). Her publication record comprises works for an array of industry sources, including the International Association for Energy Economics, the United States Association for Energy Economics, Natural Gas World, Gulf Intelligence and European Gas Hub. She is moreover frequently quoted in the media (e.g., Bloomberg, Deutsche Welle). Mariana holds a Master’s in International Relations and European Studies from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Her Master’s thesis looks into the Caspian legal status and riparian producers’ outlook with regard to the European Commission’s strategy towards the Fourth/Southern Gas Corridor. She is fluent in English, French, Greek and Russian and has elementary knowledge of Ukrainian.
Mariana Liakopoulou is a research analyst focusing on natural gas security of supply, geopolitics and decarbonization in the European and Eurasian energy markets. She serves as Research Fellow in Energy Security with the NATO Association of Canada (Toronto, Ontario, Canada). She is also Editor-in-Chief of the Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Energy Transitions Series (London, U.K.). In that capacity, she oversees and contributes to the drafting of “The Palgrave Handbook of Zero Carbon Energy Systems and Energy Transitions”, a book project aiming to provide an inter- and multi-disciplinary comprehensive analysis, knowledge and overview of zero-carbon energy systems, energy transitions and related areas. Formerly, Mariana was a consultant and member of the Roster of Experts of the Energy Community Secretariat (Vienna, Austria). Before that, she was a non-resident Research Fellow in Energy Security and Geopolitics with the Caspian Policy Center (Washington D.C.) and a member of the Strategy and Communication Team of the European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (Ljubljana, Slovenia). Her publication record comprises works for an array of industry sources, including the International Association for Energy Economics, the United States Association for Energy Economics, Natural Gas World, Gulf Intelligence and European Gas Hub. She is moreover frequently quoted in the media (e.g., Bloomberg, Deutsche Welle). Mariana holds a Master’s in International Relations and European Studies from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Her Master’s thesis looks into the Caspian legal status and riparian producers’ outlook with regard to the European Commission’s strategy towards the Fourth/Southern Gas Corridor. She is fluent in English, French, Greek and Russian and has elementary knowledge of Ukrainian.
This edited transcript of a 40-minute podcast interview (1 November 2020) covers the Caspian Sea’s legal regime, national interests of its littoral states, Turkey’s role in Euro-Caspian energy security, American and Chinese interests in the region, and why the Caspian Sea’s significance will increase still more in future.
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