Edward Chow

A senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies' (CSIS) Energy and National Security Program, a conservative think-tank, Chow worked for two decades at Chevron. “While he was Chevron’s principal international representative in Washington, he worked closely with the White House, Capitol Hill, federal departments and agencies, foreign governments, international financial institutions, and the foreign policy community on international economic policy affecting worldwide energy investments,” explains Chow's CSIS biographical sketch. “Between 1989 and 1991, he was based in Beijing as Chevron’s country manager for China.” Like Goldwyn, Chow has maintained close ties with Turkmenistan. Wikileaks cables reveal he visited from March to April 2009 to offer “his assessment of Turkmenistan's oil and gas prospects” and discuss “policy perspectives on development of the country's oil and gas sector” with the country's Deputy Foreign Minister Wepa Hajiyev. As he disclosed in an August 2013 Congressional testimony, Chow also serves as an advisor to the State Department on the Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India (TAPI) Pipeline. TAPI, stalled for years due to Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan, is set to pump Turkemenistan's gas to Fazilka, India, located near the Pakistan-India border. ExxonMobil, which has an office in Turkmenistan, “has expressed interest in financing and running the pipeline project,” according to the Oman Tribune. Rounding the circle, in 2011 ExxonMobil gave CSIS a $4 million grant.