Category Archives: Uncategorised

Fund chief leaves in Kazakhstan

JAN. 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Berik Otemurat left the Kazakh National Investment Corporation, the unit within the Central Bank that invests money from the Oil Fund, after he gave a series of interviews to major Western publications criticising its strategy. It’s unclear if Mr Otemurat was sacked or he resigned. Eszhan Birtanov, former head of the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange, was named as the new head of the National Investment Corporation.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Georgia and Russia still talk gas

JAN. 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Gazprom and the Georgian government are still in talks over supplying more gas to Georgia, media reported quoting energy minister Kakha Kaladze. Georgia wants to increase gas supplies from Russia, a sensitive issue as the two countries had been enemies until recently. Georgia has risked irritating its neighbour and main gas supplier Azerbaijan by holding negotiations to buy more gas from Russia and Iran.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Tajikistan cancels pay rise

JAN. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Tajik government has cancelled a planned pay rise for state workers, media reported. With inflation rising and the value of its somoni currency falling, the Tajik government had planned the pay rise to boost morale, and loyalty, amongst its staff just before an election last year. With the election fading into memory and an economic slowdown taking a stronger and firmer grip, it appears to have been decided that the pay rise was no longer needed.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Kazakh city airport gets new boss

JAN. 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Anuar Saidenov, former Kazakh Central Bank chief and ex-board member at BTA Bank and Bank RBK, was appointed chairman of the company managing Almaty airport. Since 2011, Netherlands based Venus Airport Investments has owned Almaty International Airport.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Kazakhstan’s gold reserves fall

JAN. 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s foreign and gold reserves fell to $27.2b at the end of December, their lowest level since August 2014, data from the Central Bank showed. Like other countries across the region, Kazakhstan has been propping up its tenge currency by selling its reserves. The tenge has halved in value over the past year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Markets: Tethys spotlight

JAN. 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Guernsey-based oil and gas company Tethys Petroleum continues to travel along the bumpy roads of Central Asia. After a lengthy tug-of-war with Nostrum Petroleum over a takeover offer, it finally agreed with a $35m deal with Olisol, an oil investment group in Kazakhstan.

The funds, however, have not yet reached Tethys and at the end of December, the company said it “does not have sufficient funding to meet its requirements beyond next few months.”

In its operation at Tajikistan’s Bokhtar field, Tethys has lost the confidence of Total and CNPC, its partners in the project, after failing to pay its share for two consecutive cash calls.

What Tethys now doesn’t need is a fight with the Tajik government over the Bokhtar licence. The Tajik side says it’s been seven years since the beginning of the exploration and it is now entitled by law to strip 25% of the licensed area from the consortium.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Georgia’s def minister flies to Afghanistan

JAN. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s defence minister Tina Khidasheli flew to Afghanistan to meet some of the 870 Georgian soldiers based in the country as part of the US-led Operation Resolute. Georgia has the second largest number of soldiers in Afghanistan. It views the soldiers as part of a wider diplomatic push to try to join NATO.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Georgian GT Group to import wine- making kit

JAN. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — GT Group, a Georgian automotive holding company, launched a new company, GT Enology, to import wine-making equipment, local media reported. The company will buy machinery in France and Italy to service several wine-making companies in Georgia. GT Group is a major importer of lubricants and specialised vehicles in the country and is ranked as one of the largest taxpayers.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Austria’s ILF signs deal to update Tajik HPP

DUSHANBE, JAN. 10 2016, (The Conway Bulletin) — Austrian company ILF Consulting Engineers signed a contract with Tajik state-owned utilities company Barqi Tojik to provide consulting services to modernise the Kayrakkum hydropower project, a key part of Tajikistan’s plans to become a regional exporter of electricity.

The Soviet-era facilities at the Kayrakkum plant have now reached the end of their lifecycle and the total cost of the modernisation of the plant is estimated at $169m. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will finance around $50m.

Barqi Tojik also intends to increase capacity of the hydropower plant, from 126MW to 174MW, giving an annual total output of 900 GWh.

Tajikistan, which produces around 98% of its electricity from hydropower sources, is trying to improve its power capacity.

It is part of the CASA-1000 project, an ambitious export project to send electricity to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The project is due for completion in 2019 and to fulfil its role of supplier, Tajikistan needs to speed up its modernisation projects. Kyrgyzstan is also involved in the CASA-100 project. Last month, Kyrgyzstan’s biggest hydropower station, Toktogul, broke down.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Protesters clash with police in Azerbaijan

JAN. 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Protests against rising prices broke out in at least five regional towns in Azerbaijan, the most serious and widespread civil unrest linked to an economic downturn that has shaken Central Asia and the South Caucasus over the past 18 months.

In Siyazan, about an hour’s drive north of Baku, heavily armed riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at crowds of young men who pelted them with stones. Later, reports said that at least 50 people had been detained by the police.

Footage shot on mobile phones and released on the opposition Meydan website showed police in full body armour carrying shields backed up by armoured vehicles marching towards groups of young men.

In other protests in regional towns, groups of men argued with officials and complained about losing jobs and a drop in living standards.

The following day, the Azerbaijani authorities released a statement that blamed various opposition parties for organising the protests. Azerbaijan’s opposition, which has seen its ranks thinned by a series of arrests and imprisonments over the past couple of years, said that the protests had been spontaneous.

Hours later the government appeared to back down over one of the protesters’ main demands — to stop prices from rising — by ordering a VAT exemption on flour and wheat.

A sharp fall in oil prices has hit Azerbaijan hard. It devalued its manat currency twice last year, halving its value. The government has also cut welfare and infrastructure projects.

There have been small-scale protests in Azerbaijan and in Georgia and Armenia, but these were the most violent and widespread.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)