ENERGY SECURITY, SHANGHAI COOPERATION ORGANISATION AND CENTRAL ASIA

Eurasia has historically played an extremely significant part in world history. In the Twentieth Century, the region was essential with regard to the outcome of the Second World War. The Post-Cold War era ushered in a new dimension with regard to greater Central Asia, that of energy. Gone were the concerns with military bases and listening posts of the Cold War by the western allies, to be replaced by interest in unexplored oil and gas fields by western energy firms.   In the globalising world of the twenty-first century, energy has become extremely valuable, a strategic resource. There is intense competition to seek and possess scarce resources such as oil and gas. Given that five of the largest seven gas fields are located in Russia and Turkmenistan, as well as one of the largest oil fields discovered in the last decade or so is the Kashagan Field in Kazakhstan, greater Central Asia looms large on the energy map of the world.