Black gold.

Why should the Western world be bothered aboUt whether Russia meddles in the affairs of distant Asian republics or not? One reason is oil. Since 1991, Western oil companies have been spending millions of dollars exploring for oil in the Caspian Sea region. The drillers are excited about what they've found. There are reserves of oil in Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan that might rival those of SaUdi Arabia in size. This would put the Central Asian republics into the oil-producing major leagues. The oil companies want to negotiate with the governments of these countries and not have Moscow elbowing its way into the deals. The oil companies also don't want to find they're being blackmailed into using old and leaky ex-Soviet pipelines to get the of! to market.