Post by Rohit Verma

I've covered emerging market energy long enough to know the deals that reshape the next decade rarely make the front page when they're signed. When the Middle East disturbs , smart money starts looking east. BP just entered its first upstream project in Uzbekistan-six exploration blocks in the North Ustyurt region, signed on the sidelines of the Oil & Gas Uzbekistan Conference last week. 40% stake alongside SOCAR as operator and Uzbekneftegaz. Quiet announcement but the timing tells you everything. The Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed since early March. EIA estimates Gulf producers collectively shut in 10.5 million barrels per day in April alone. QatarEnergy is in force majeure. Iraq's export routes are fractured. The Middle East, which the industry treated as permanently stable supply infrastructure, revealed in eight weeks just how concentrated global energy risk actually is. That's the context behind this deal & it's the context behind every CIS upstream conversation happening in boardrooms right now that isn't making headlines yet. Uzbekistan has been quietly building its investment case for years. GDP growing at 6.7% in 2026. International reserves at $70 billion. A government actively courting IOCs with transparent PSA frameworks. SOCAR laid the groundwork here in 2025 signing the original blocks alongside Uzbekneftegaz. BP's entry formalises what was already a credible destination. It's not a bet on a frontier play. It's a bet on supply chain diversification at the IOC portfolio level. What most people are reading as an exploration deal is actually a strategic hedge. After years watching BD cycles, I've seen this pattern the geography that looks "peripheral" in a stable market becomes the most important call in a disrupted one. The question EPC contractors and BD teams should be asking right now isn't whether CIS upstream is real. It's whether they have the relationships, the track record & the legal entity structure to compete when the FEED studies start landing. CIS is moving. Is your BD pipeline? bp SOCAR Trading Giovanni Cristofoli SOCAR Türkiye Sources: BP Press Release | World Oil | The Energy Year (Links in comments) #OilAndGas #EPCStrategy #EmergingMarkets #MENAEnergy