Category Archives: Uncategorised

Afghan protest shows sensitivity of power line routes from Turkmenistan

MAY 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Thousands of Hazara, a minority group in Afghanistan, marched through Kabul to protest against the re-routing of a section of a power line that will transmit electricity from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The protests shows just how sensitive the issue of routing various power lines and pipelines through Afghanistan has become as they generate income for communities. As well as this power line, Afghanistan will also host a power line dubbed

CASA-1000 which will send power to Pakistan from Tajikistan and the TAPI pipeline which will pump Turkmen gas to India

The government has said a route change for the Turkmenistan-Pakistan power line would cut costs.

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(News report from Issue No. 281, published on May 20 2016)

Kyrgyz President reshuffles government

MAY 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev appointed Abdikarim Alimbayev as the new chairman of the State Border Service. His predecessor, Raimberdi Duyshenbiyev, was appointed Chief of Staff. The Border Service is an important office in Kyrgyzstan. Unresolved border disputes with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have triggered clashes in the past months.

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(News report from Issue No. 281, published on May 20 2016)

Azerbaijani cargo plane crashes

MAY 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – An Antonov-12 cargo plane operated by Azerbaijan’s Silk Way Airlines crashed on take-off at Dwyer airport in south Afghanistan on Wednesday evening, media reported. Seven of the nine crew members were killed in the crash. The authorities later identified the dead as the Uzbek pilot, five Azerbaijani crew members and one Ukrainian technician. Two Ukrainians survived.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 281, published on May 20 2016)

Total wants to sell stake in Azerbaijani project

MAY 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — French energy company Total asked for help from the Azerbaijani government with selling its share of gas from the Absheron field in the Caspian Sea, a source close to the deal told Natural Gas Europe. Total has not commented. Total said it will start production at the Absheron field in 2021 and has yet to sign export contracts for its gas.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 281, published on May 20 2016)

Export rate falls in Kyrgyzstan

MAY 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s Statistics Committee said that revenues from exports fell by 25.8% to $287.1m in Q1 2016, compared to the same period last year. Notably, revenues from gold exports shrank by 2.6 times. Centerra Gold, the Canadian company exploiting the Kumtor gold mine, had said that delays in shipments had hit sales. Kumtor is Kyrgyzstan’s largest asset.

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(News report from Issue No. 281, published on May 20 2016)

Polymetal production grows from deposits in Kazakhstan and Armenia

MAY 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian miner Polymetal increased its production guidance for the next three years to reflect the gold deposits it has bought in Armenia and Kazakhstan this year. By the year 2020, the Kapan and Komarovskoye mines will add 12.5% to Polymetal’s total production. Polymetal bought Kapan, located in southern Armenia, in March and Komarovskoye, in north-east Kazakhstan, in April.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 281, published on May 20 2016)

Tajik ministers says everyone should have flag

MAY 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Ramadan Rakhimzoda, the Tajik minister of internal affairs, said that every Tajik household should fly a national flag as proof of patriotism. The flag is an important item in the construction of Tajikistan’s national identity. In 2011, for the twentieth anniversary of Tajikistan’s independence, President Emomali Rakhmon ordered what was then the tallest flagpole in the world to be built in Dushanbe.

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(News report from Issue No. 281, published on May 20 2016)

Kazakhstan to control NGO funds

MAY 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s ministry of culture established an agency that will manage grant funding for NGOs, a decision in line with the new NGO law that President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed in December 2015. Human rights and NGO lobby groups have said that this law and this agency will restrict their ability to receive funding and undermine their work.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 281, published on May 20 2016)

Azerbaijan’s oil fund avoids VTB offer

MAY 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — SOFAZ, Azerbaijan’s sovereign oil fund, said it has no intention of increasing its 2.95% share in Russia’s VTB Bank, a sign, perhaps, that the economic downturn has bitten into Azerbaijan’s ability to buy assets abroad. SOFAZ has previously been increasing the size of equity stakes it owns in various companies. Earlier in May, the Russian government said it was looking for buyers to reduce its stake in VTB. VTB is the second largest bank in Russia and owns subsidiaries across the South Caucasus and Central Asia.

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(News report from Issue No. 281, published on May 20 2016)

Azerbaijani energy company nears deal to buy Greek gas network

MAY 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — SOCAR, Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company, could be close to securing a deal with Italy’s Snam to unlock its stalled purchase of the Greek gas distributor DESFA.

Greece’s state development fund said that Snam, the Italian gas distribution company, will buy a 17% stake in DESFA, a deal that would allow SOCAR to own 49% of the Greek distributor.

“We expect completion of the process of the sale of a stake in DESFA to Azerbaijan’s SOCAR. 17% out of the SOCAR package will be acquired by Snam,” Stergios Pitsiorlas, head of the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF) told Greek media.

Snam did not comment.

Media also said Rahman Mustafayev, Azerbaijan’s ambassador to Greece, said Snam will partner with SOCAR. In March, Belgium’s Fluxys pulled out of a deal to partner with SOCAR to buy a 66% stake in DESFA.

It’s been a long-running affair. In 2013, SOCAR won a tender to buy 66% of DESFA for €400m ($450m), but the deal was frozen by the European Commission, which said that, according to a 2009 regulation, SOCAR could only buy a 49% stake.

DESFA is important to Azerbaijan because Greece will play a major role hosting part of a pipeline network that will pump gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe. The EU considers this an important new gas project

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(News report from Issue No. 281, published on May 20 2016)