Led by Russia, countries in the east are increasingly pursuing "expansionist" policies based on the use of gas, with their immense reserves to be exploited and benefited from.
This is the case of the former Soviet Union, which boasts immense methane reserves mainly in western, central and eastern Siberia, but also in the White Sea, with a number of fields also in the Caucasus and Caspian regions. Beyond Russia's borders there are a few important energy players, but they all depend on Russian infrastructures. The more important natural gas fields are to be found in Kazakhstan, in the Astrakan region, near the city of Atyrau, on the Caspian Sea and in the Karachaganak region at the northern border with Russia. In Uzbekistan gasfields are in the Gazli region and again in Kazakhstan's Zhetybay region on the Caspian Sea near the border with Turkmenistan.
It is precisely Turkmenistan that is emerging with new trade dynamics, also able to rely on large gas reserves such as ones for example in the Khorog Majskand  area and in Dauletabad near the border with Iran. These are all areas rich in natural gas, and on this subject, Turkmenistan recently also opened its gas reserve bids to western partners. It is from Turkmenistan that the trans-Afghan TAPI pipeline carries methane directly to India, travelling through the Afghan province of Herat, controlled by Italian armed forces that are part of NATO's contingent.