MARCH 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – US-based engineering company KBR said its joint venture in Azerbaijan had won a project management consulting contract for the Heydar Aliyev oil refinery near Baku. SOCAR, Azerbaijan’s state owned energy company, is a partner in the joint venture with KBR. The companies did not disclose the value of the contract.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 271, published on March 11 2016)
MARCH 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s overall electricity production was 5.2% higher in January compared to January 2015, mostly due to the sharp increase in hydropower generation.
While traditional sources of power such as thermal and nuclear increased only marginally, production from hydropower and small hydropower stations grew by 23.7%, according to Armenia’s Statistics Committee.
Small hydroelectric plants, in particular, have heavily increased their contribution to Armenia’s total power output.
Small hydropower plants are defined in Armenia as power plants that generate up to 30 MW. In Armenia there are now 173 small hydropower plants, more than twice as many as there were in 2010 and six times more than in 1991. Today, they account for around 9% of the country’s power generation.
Individual entrepreneurs, including many people linked to government officials and ministers, have driven the rise in these small hydro- power stations, building along rivers and generating power which links straight into the national grid.
But while the government has welcomed the rise in small hydro- power stations, anti-corruption campaigners have linked them to money laundering and corruption and environmentalists have said that they are damaging rivers’ eco-systems and creating eye-sores.
“Critics say the plants already in operation are sucking up most of the water in the river system, destroying traditional trout fisheries and depriving area residents of reliable access to water,” Kristine Aghalaryan said in report in the Hetq newspaper.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 271, published on March 11 2016)
MARCH 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Technip Italy and Azerkimya signed an agreement for the reconstruction of the Sumgayit ethylene-polyethylene plant, 30km north of Baku. Technip Italy is a subsidiary of France’s Technip, an oil service company, which left Azerbaijan in January. Azerkimya is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SOCAR, Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 271, published on March 11 2016)
MARCH 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh mobile operator Tele2 signed an agreement for a long-term credit line with Kazkommertsbank, one of the country’s largest commercial banks. The company will use the funds to upgrade its network. Tele2 Kazakhstan and Altel completed their merger on March 1. Before the market was liberalised earlier this year, Altel, a subsidiary of state owned Kazakhtelecom, was the only company to own a 4G licence in Kazakhstan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 271, published on March 11 2016)
MARCH 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Italian prosecutors charged Dinamo, an energy consortium registered near Milan, with paying millions of euros in bribes to Kazakh officials for a contract to service the giant Kashagan oil field.
The bribes, the prosecutors said, are part of a deep-rooted system of corruption used to win contracts in the oil services sector around the world. So far, ENI, Italy’s biggest energy firm, has not been involved in the legal proceedings, but analysts argue that the investigation might inevitably reach the former operator of Kashagan.
ENI holds a 16.8% stake in the Kashagan consortium of which Kazmunaigas, Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total, CNPC and Inpex are all part.
Italy is one of Kazakhstan’s main trade partners. Kashagan is supposed to start commercial oil production later this year after a three year delay.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 271, published on March 11 2016)
MARCH 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – About 200 people working for the oil services company Techno Trading, which is a sub-contractor for Mangistaumunaigas went on strike. They complained that the company had not paid them their quarterly bonuses. Industrial action is a sensitive issue in western Kazakhstan where police and demonstrators clashed in 2011, killing at least 14 people. Inflation is rising and the value of the tenge has dropped in Kazakhstan, straining worker-employer relations.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 271, published on March 11 2016)
MARCH 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A firefight between Tajik forces and militants on its southern border with Afghanistan killed at least two Tajik soldiers, media reported by quoting government officials. This was one of the most serious border clashes for some months and will worry governments in Central Asia. It is unclear if the militants were linked to the Taliban or if they were local smugglers.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 271, published on March 11 2016)
MARCH 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani flew into Ashgabat for talks with Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, media reported. The talks focused on developing links, trade primarily, between Qatar and Turkmenistan. Mr Berdymukhamedov has courted the Middle East and tried to promoted the idea of a north-south trade route from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 271, published on March 11 2016)
MARCH 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia gave Kyrgyzstan a $30m grant to help it cover holes in its finances that have appeared during the economic downturn. Specifically the grant was supposedly earmarked to finished building new accommodation for police and army recruits. The economic downturn has hit Kyrgyzstan hard, whipping millions off is budget. Russia curries favour with Central Asian states by handing out grants or cheap loans.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 271, published on March 11 2016)
MARCH 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – After completing a mission to Tajikistan, David Kaye, a UN Special Rapporteur, said that freedom of expression in the country was dire. Mr Kaye said that the authorities were using concerns over security as an excuse to crackdown on the media and political parties they didn’t like. “The security situation has been used as a pretext, as an excuse, to crack down on freedom of expression,” he said.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 271, published on March 11 2016)
