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Turkmenistan says it wants to boost gas output

FEB. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan intends to increase production of gas in 2015 to around 80b cubic metres compared to 76b cubic metres in 2014, media reported quoting its energy ministry.

This is important because it underlines Turkmenistan’s determination to sell more gas to make up for the drop in prices.

Over the last few years Turkmenistan has built up its client base for gas and shifted itself into position as one of the region’s major gas suppliers.

Its main client is China but Europe, India and Pakistan are also clamouring to receive more gas.

News that Turkmen President Kurbangkuly Berdymukhamdov wants to increase gas production this year will be a boost for the proposed TAPI pipeline that is planned to run from Turkmenistan across Afghanistan to Pakistan and India and also for a potential pipeline to run under the Caspian Sea that will feed gas to Europe.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)

EU rights envoy flies to Baku

FEB. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The EU’s special envoy for human rights, Stavros Lambrinidis, flew to Azerbaijan for a visit that is expected to culminate in a critical evaluation of the Azerbaijani government. Human rights groups urged Mr Stavros to use his trip to pressure the authorities into releasing various prisoners.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)

Two men jailed in Kazakhstan for IS link

FEB. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in the central Kazakh town of Temirtau sentenced two men to eight and 11 years in prison for links to radical Islam and plotting a series of attacks. One of the men, prosecutors said, tried to recruit people to head out to join the extremist IS group in Syria.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)

Georgia CBank props up lari

FEB. 24 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — In an effort to stop its currency from sliding further, the Georgian Central Bank said it had sold another $40m of its reserves. This is the third time this month it has sold US dollar reserves to prop up its lari currency.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)

Armenia CBank reduces growth estimate

FEB. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia’s Central Bank has said that economic growth this year could virtually stagnate at a mere 0.4%, media reported. This figure is at the lower end of its updated estimate which blamed a poor Russian economy for the general slowdown in Armenia’s own economic prospects.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)

Output at BP’s ACG field falls

FEB. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Bucking expectations BP said output from its Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) oil field in Azerbaijan continued to fall in 2014. BP said oil output at ACG, which is essential to Azerbaijan’s overall output, fell to 31.5m tonnes in 2014 from 32.3m tonnes in 2013.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)

Gradual devaluation for tenge

FEB. 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kairat Kelimbetov, head of the Kazakh Central Bank, hinted for the first time that he was prepared to allow a gradual devaluation of the tenge. He told Russian media: “We will not allow a one-off shock devaluation and instead will work within the framework of a smooth and flexible exchange rate mechanism.”
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(News report from Issue No. 219, published on Feb. 18 2015)

Azerbaijani reporter hiding in Swiss embassy

FEB. 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Swiss television reported that Emin Huseynov, a journalist and critic of Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, has been hiding in Switzerland’s embassy in Baku for six months. It said Mr Huseynov took refuge in the embassy to avoid being arrested. Human rights groups criticise Azerbaijan’s recent record.
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(News report from Issue No. 219, published on Feb. 18 2015)

Turkmenistan offers to host Afghan peace talks

MARCH 18 2015 (The Bulletin) – Turkmenistan has offered to host talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government, Pakistan’s Express Tribune newspaper reported. Sapar Berdiniyazov, a senior Turkmen diplomat, said: “If the Afghan parties ask us, Turkmenistan is available as a venue for the talks.” If Ashagbat did ever host peace talks it would significantly raise its international profile.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)

Kazakhstan cuts oil export tax

>>Slump in global oil prices triggers tax cut>>

FEB. 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan will slash its oil export duty by 25% to help companies manage a sharp drop in energy prices, economy minister Yerbolat Dossayev said.

The measure is part of a package of proposals designed to help Kazakhstan’s economy weather an increasingly nasty economic downturn. Energy minister Vladimir Shkolnik also said that taxes on miners would be cut soon.

Currently oil exporters pay $80 to ship a tonne of oil out of Kazakhstan. The government will cut this to $60.

It’s a drastic step for Kazakhstan which still relies heavily on oil exports for its revenue. Drastic but, possibly, unavoidable. Oil prices have halved in the past seven months, forcing spending cut backs and budget cuts.

The sharp drop in oil prices also creates another problem for Kazakhstan. It makes the more expensive projects, such as the Kashagan project in the Caspian Sea, unprofitable. Dropping export tax may go some way to addressing this problem.
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(News report from Issue No. 219, published on Feb. 18 2015)