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Oil output stagnates in Azerbaijan

OCT. 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan produced 31.27m tonnes of oil and gas condensate in the first nine months of the year, the State Statistics Committee said, a drop of 0.3% from last year. Oil is the mainstay of the Azerbaijani economy and the government has been urging oil companies, in particular BP, to increase the amount of oil they produce. Gas production, the statistics committee said, has risen.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Kazakhstan looks to ban Salafism

ALMATY, OCT. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan appeared to signal that it would ban Salafism, a form of Islam, after its new minister for religious affairs, Nurlan Yermekbayev, described it as “unacceptable”.

Mr Yermekbayev’s comments, at his first press conference as minister for religious freedom, will strengthen analysts’ views that the ministry, created last month, was designed to clamp down on religious freedom.

“We consider that for Kazakhstan, Salafism is an unacceptable and destructive religious movement. In

general, Kazakhstan’s society has a negative attitude to this alien understanding of faith, leading to radicalism,” the official Astana Times newspaper quoted him as saying.

“Our future work will focus on preventing the spread of literature and the work of the websites promoting the ideology of Salafism.”

Salafism is an ultra-conservative form of Islam that has its roots in Egypt. It has been blamed for the spread of radical Islam.

Previously, Wahhabism, has been blamed for encouraging a series of terrorist attacks in Kazakhstan and banned by the government.

But Kazakh officials have now blamed a series of gun attacks in Aktobe, in the west of the country, in June on a group of Salafists.

Kazakhstan, like its neighbours, has been clamping down on pious Muslims, increasingly worried that they are destabilising the country and acting as a possible fifth column.

Human rights groups have described the clamp-downs as attacks on human rights and free speech.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Kazakh energy company drills wells

OCT. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Roxi Petroleum, a Kazakhstan-based oil and gas company, said it had successfully drilled new wells at its BNG Contract Area, a group of oil fields in western Kazakhstan. Roxi said the drilling of the A6 deep well had been challenging, but that the expansion of the field was continuing as planned. On the day of the announcement, its stock price increased by 18% to 10.5p in London.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Remittances grow in Georgia

OCT. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Remittance data from Georgia showed an overall increase of 3.6% for the first nine months of the year compared to the same time in 2014, although cash from Russia continued to fall, media reported. Russia is the biggest source of remittances to Georgia, and the rest of the Central Asia and South Caucasus region. It sent only $282m to Georgia in Jan. – Sept., down 12.3%. Remittances from Greece stood at $93m (up 1%) and from the US at $89m (up 11%). The data is important because is shows that, unlike its South Caucasus and Central Asia neighbours, Georgia is not overly reliant on remittances from Russia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Alleged coup-plotter in Kazakhstan rejects accusations

OCT. 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – In his trial for allegedly funding an attempted coup earlier this year in Kazakhstan, Shymkent-based businessman Tokhtar Tuleshov said that although he had given protesters demonstrating against land reforms $100,000, he had not intended to organise an overthrow of the government. A screenshot of Mr Tuleshov, once one of the richest men in Kazakhstan whose wealth was built on brewing beer, showed him in handcuffs looking gaunt while he gave evidence to the court in Astana via a video-link.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Kazakh oil pipeline operator to allocate its route

OCT. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – KazTransOil, Kazakhstan’s state owned oil pipeline operator, said that the first shipments of oil from Kashagan will be allocated to the Atyrau-Samara pipeline and sold at the Russian port of Ust-Luga, near St. Petersburg. Production at Kashagan re-started last week after years of delay. In October, the consortium plans to pump at 90,000 barrels/day. The Kazakh government is banking on Kashagan to propel it into the Premier League of oil producers.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Turkmenistan signs $700m loan deal for TAPI with IDB

OCT. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) signed a $700m loan deal for the construction of the so-called TAPI gas pipeline that will pump Turkmen gas to India via Afghanistan and Pakistan.

This is an important deal, not just because of its size, but also because it brings a second major international institution into the project. Turkmenistan has been powering the project, kicking off construction in December, but, up until now, Western companies and financial institutions, other than the Manila- based Asian Development Bank, have steered away from joining it.

Now, though, after months of negotiations, the normally publicity shy Turkmen Bank for Foreign Economic Activities met up with the IDB in Washington DC to agree the loan.

Through its official news website, Turkmenistan lauded the deal.

“The construction of the transnational gas pipeline will ensure the long-term supply of energy in the countries of Southeast Asia and will ensure further economic development in the region,” it said.

For months, Turkmenistan has negotiated with IDB and other international financial institutions for loans and grants. The Asian Development Bank, adviser to the project, agreed a $200m loan in April, when it also said the project was ‘doable’.

Others have been less impressed, calling the project, literally, a pipe- dream that couldn’t be done.

And it is certainly a challenge. The plan is to build a 1,800km pipeline from Turkmenistan across Afghanistan to Pakistan and India. The cost of the pipeline is estimated at $10b.

The IDB, which is headquartered in Jeddah, has not commented on the $700m loan for TAPI.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Kazakhstan retiriertes Hijab ban

OCT. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan said that it had reiterated a ban on hijabs at school despite a number of complaints from parents since the ban was introduced in January. Kazakhstan is officially a secular states although the vast majority of people are Muslim. Headscarves have also become a more common sight on the streets of Kazakh cities over the past few years.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Flights restart between Turkmenistan and Georgia

OCT. 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia and Turkmenistan will launch new direct flights in November, linking Tbilisi and Ashgabat. The flights will run twice weekly and will be operated by Turkmenistan Airlines. Since Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili’s visit to Turkmenistan in 2014, relations between the two countries have improved. Now, the governments want to boost trade beyond oil products which dominate.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Heavy rain floods Azerbaijani capital for the second time this year

BAKU, OCT. 17/18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Heavy rainfall flooded parts of Baku forcing dozens of people to flee their homes and triggering a round of grumbling by locals about a lack of investment into essential infrastructure.

This is important because the popularity of Azerbaijan’s government has fallen sharply over the last couple of years with a drop in living standards linked to a devaluation in the local currency and a squeeze in GDP levels. Earlier this year, virtually unprecedented protests against a drop in living standards swept across a handful of towns in rural Azerbaijan.

This was the second major flood in Baku this year. The ministry of ecology described a flood in September as the worst for 36 years.

Reaction from Baku residents showed the levels of frustration felt by people. Aygun, a 28-year old teacher, said the government should start improving infrastructure in Baku and its environs.

“In the villages around Baku, the roads are all unpaved. So even after a day of rain, we get stuck in the mud,” she said.

And Emin, a 33-year-old consultant, agreed. He blamed corruption and mismanagement for the flooding.

“If they are going to build a new sewage system, they will need millions of manat,” he said. “But I’m not sure they have the money now when the oil prices are down. I don’t even know if they have the will.” He also referenced a cartoon on social media which showed the mayor of Baku, Hajibala Abutalibov, sitting and calmly ignoring the rain.

“I think the message is that it’s always ordinary people who suffer, never the authorities,” Emin said. “And that’s the reality.”

The government declined to comment but a spokesman for Azersu, Azerbaijan’s water operator, said the city’s sewage system needed updating.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)