Category Archives: Central Asia & South Caucasus News

Stock market: Roxi Petrolium and Raditie

SEPT. 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Roxi Petroleum’s stock price has settled back at around 10p/share in September, after an unusual spike in early August. Roxi is a Kazakhstan focused British oil company. It operates the BNG Contract Area in Western Kazakhstan, not far from the massive Tengiz oilfield.

On Aug. 16, the company sent out an optimistic production update, saying it had drilled a new shallow well.

And on Sept. 2, Roxi announced an important shareholding change.

Dutch company Raditie, which owned 6.4% in the company sold off its entire stake. The largest portion of Raditie’s shares was bought by Bolatzhan Kerimbayev, a former deputy head of the National Security Committee.

Mr Kerimbayev is now the third-largest shareholder in the company with 4.2%. CEO Kuat Oraziman owns, directly and indirectly, 40% of Roxi. Kairat Satylganov, CFO and director, owns 24.5%.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Kyrgyz President falls ill in Istanbul with chest pains

BISHKEK, SEPT. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev cancelled a trip to the UN General Assembly meeting in New York because he was feeling unwell and was suffering from chest pains.

Instead, Mr Atambayev diverted his plane to Istanbul where he checked into a hotel and was examined by doctors. Only four hours later Mr Atambayev flew down to Izmir on the Mediterranean coast for a break and to convalesce. He would, his press team said, be back at work by next month.

On Friday, he was reported to have flown to Moscow for more treatment.

In Bishkek, speculation swirled across kitchen tables, bars and shops over the state of the President’s health, his no-show at the UN General Assembly and his unscheduled stopover in Izmir and Istanbul.

Rita Karasartova, an opposition activist, said “While Atambayev is in Turkey, there could be arrests (of opposition activists) here. After the arrests, Atambayev could say he did not know anything about it because he was out of country.”

Other, pro-Atambayev analysts, disagreed.

Mr Atambayev has cut a divisive figure. He has proposed constitutional amendments to hand the PM more power and quarrelled with his predecessor Roza Otunbayeva.

And his health has been the focus of speculation previously. Two years ago he took to walking with a stick. His press team said that he had a knee condition but they couldn’t stop the image of a frail-looking president.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Political tension builds in Kyrgyzstan

SEPT. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Edil Baisalov, who previously served as chief of staff to ex-Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva, said the country’s security services are targeting him and some of his former colleagues and could soon arrest him on trumped up charges. Mr Baisalov’s accusations fit with the worsening political tension between President Almazbek Atambayev and his predecessor.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)f

Uzbek GM ex-head awaits trial

SEPT. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Uzbekistan released on bail former GM Uzbekistan head Tokhirjon Jalilov, who was arrested in April in connection with a fraud scheme around car exports to Russia. Jalilov, who had served as chairman of GM Uzbekistan since 2010, will face trial for embezzlement. State-owned Uzavtoprom owns 75% of GM Uzbekistan, US- based GM owns the rest.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Kazakh Baiterek appoints new director

SEPT. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Rustam Kusainov, former adviser to the ministry of economy, was appointed managing director of the government-owned Baiterek holding. Former minister of economy Yerbolat Dossayev is Baiterek’s CEO. Mr Kusainov’s took the IT portfolio at Baiterek. The holding administers several companies in the financial and insurance sectors.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)f

Exxon used Bahamas-based accounts for companies operating in the Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan

SEPT. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) released previously confidential documents detailing companies linked to offshore accounts in the Bahamas, an update to the so-called Panama Papers.

The documents, obtained from the secretive Bahamas business registry, show connections between companies and intermediaries set up in the Bahamas tax haven in the Caribbean.

“There is much evidence to suggest that where you have secrecy in the offshore world you have the potential for wrongdoing” Gerard Ryle, the director of ICIJ, said in a statement.

Among South Caucasus and Central Asia-focused companies, ExxonMobil made extensive use of Bahamas-based companies for its operations in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The law firm Harry B. Sands, Lobosky & Co., based in Nassau, was the main intermediary for these accounts.

A company called Borjomi was also listed among Harry B. Sands, Lobosky & Co.’s customers. It is unclear if this company has connections with the Georgian water producer.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Turkmenistan opens new airport in Ashgabat shaped like a bird

SEPT. 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov opened a new airport in Ashgabat, which included a bird- shaped passenger terminal, that cost $2.3b to build and is capable of serving 17m passengers a year.

The airport, which the World Record Academy has called the world’s largest bird-shaped building, spans 364m.

Mr Berdymukhamedov wants the airport to become a key hub for pas- senger and cargo transit between Europe and Asia.

“The opening of the new international airport in Ashgabat will contribute to the full integration of Turkmenistan in the system of international relations,” a Turkmen government website wrote.

To achieve these ambitious goals, the government will have to relax some of its visa rules. Last year, only 110,000 foreigners visited Turkmenistan, according to Turkmen data.

Grandiose buildings, however, also serve as photo-ops and symbols of Mr Berdymukhamedov’s attempts to mould Turkmenistan’s image onto his own.

The near empty over-sized resort town of Avaza on the Caspian Sea shore, an indoor Ferris wheel considered the largest in the world and the largest hand-woven carpet all tell a similar story to that of the newly- unveiled airport.

The Guinness World Records said in 2013 that Ashgabat was the city with the greatest density of marble- clad buildings.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Uzbek President fires governor

SEPT. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Acting Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev fired the governor of Jizzakh, his native province in the east of the country, for ‘serious shortcomings’. The phrase is a hollow formula that former President Islam Karimov used often when firing an official. Abdukahkhar Tukhtayev will now replace Asror Kobilov, who had been in charge since 2009, as the Jizzakh governor.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Kazakhstan sends Jupiter licence extension

SEPT. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Australia-based Jupiter Energy said it received an extension from the Kazakh government for its exploration licence for Block 31, in the Mangistau region. Jupiter Energy, majority-owned by Australian finance services company Computershare Clearing, bought a licence for Block 31 from local company Zher Munai in 2008 for around $9m. The renewed licence will expire at the end of 2019.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

CIS meeting convenes in Kyrgyz capital

SEPT. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Heads of states of CIS countries convened in Bishkek for their annual meeting, a summit that focused on countering both the growing recruitment drive of the IS extremist group in the region and the threat from the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan. Notably, this was Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko’s first visit to Kyrgyzstan since former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev fled to Belarus after being ousted in a revolution in 2010.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)