Category Archives: Uncategorised

Azerbaijan extinguishes Caspian Sea fire

DEC. 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Azerbaijan said they had finally extinguished the fire at Platform No. 10 of the Guneshli shallow water oil rig off the coast of Baku, nearly two weeks after a storm smashed into it causing an explosion in a gas pipe.

Emergency crews also said they had received permission to search for the bodies of 26 missing oil workers from other littoral states bordering the Caspian Sea.

Three workers from the Oil Rocks platform and 23 workers from the Guneshli platform are still listed as missing.

Rescue teams have already found the bodies of seven workers killed in the fire on Dec. 4.

A final death toll of 33 would make it the worst offshore oil platform accident since the Piper Alpha disaster in 1988 when 167 people were killed.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

Germany leaves UZ base

DEC. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The German military closed its base at Termez, Uzbekistan, near the border with Afghanistan. Rent costs for the base had increased to €16m ($17.3m) per year, up from €2.9m ($3.15m) per year in 2002. Germany had used the base as part of a logistics route into Afghanistan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

Low oil prices collapse current account surplus in Azerbaijan

DEC. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s Central Bank released data that showed a massive drop in its current account surplus for January-September 2015 because of sustained low oil prices.

For the first three quarters of the year, the trade balance totalled $240.5m, down from $9.1b in the same period last year, showing the impact of low oil prices and currency depreciation.

Azerbaijan has run a current account surplus since 2005.

For the Jan.-Sept. period, the Central Bank used an average price of oil of $51/barrel, while last year the price level was set at $102/barrel. The Azerbaijani Central Bank devalued its currency by a third in February.

In particular, the balance of trade in the oil and gas sector was $5.4b, down from $15.1b compared to last year. This is important because oil and gas is a major earner for Azerbaijan.

Still, it could be worse. Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan’s oil exporting neighbour across the Caspian Sea, recorded a deficit in the first three quarters of the year having posted a surplus in 2014.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

Former Kazakh PM sent to prison for corruption

DEC. 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Karaganda sentenced former Kazakh PM Serik Akhmetov to 10 years in prison on corruption charges, completing the downfall of a former high-flying member of Kaza- khstan’s inner clique of elite.

Akhmetov was sentenced alongside other 20 senior officials, among them the former governor of the Karaganda region, Baurzhan Abishev, and former mayor of the
city, Meiram Smagulov.

They were all charged with abuse of office and embezzlement.

The trial effectively disbands the former group of Karaganda elite and acts as a warning for other local elites in Kazakhstan.

Akhmetov, 57, had served as PM from September 2012 to April 2014, when he was removed and replaced by his predecessor Karim Massimov.

He was then appointed defence minister, but was sacked in October 2014, just one month before prosecutors filed corruption charges against him.

Now, in his latest ignominy, he will going to jail for taking a $2.4m bribe.

Days before his sentence, Akhmetov publicly admitted his errors and asked President Nursultan

Nazarbayev for forgiveness.
“I sincerely apologise to Nursultan Abishevich for not repaying his trust and causing him distress,” said Akhmetov. The court displayed little clemency towards Akhmetov, instead pre- ferring to hand him a heavy sentence and use him as an example to others.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

Deutag wins contracts in Azerbaijan

DEC. 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — British services company KCA Deutag won two contracts with BP worth up to $1b for operations, maintenance and engineering work in Azerbaijan. The Aberdeen-based company will work on seven oil and gas platforms operated by BP off the coast of Azerbaijan, including those exploiting the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil field and the Shah Deniz gas field, two of Azerbaijan’s most important energy projects. KCA Deutag has worked in Azerbaijan for 20 years, mostly with BP. Rune Lorentzen, president of Offshore at KCA Deutag, said: “These major contract awards build on KCA Deutag’s long standing relationship with BP, and recognise our efforts to deliver both continuous improvement and value to our client.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

Azerbaijan to receive Swiss trains

DEC. 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Swiss railway manufacturer Stadler will deliver two high-speed electric trains to Azerbaijan in the next two months, Javid Gurbanov, head of Azerbaijani Railways, told reporters. Both trains will be used on the 30km Baku-Sumgayit route. In May, Stadler said it had also won a €70m contract to deliver five double decker carriages to Azerbaijan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

Georgia rate increase

DEC. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s Central Bank increased its key interest rate by half a percentage point to 8%, its highest level since 2012. The move preceded a heavily telegraphed quarter of a percentage point increase by the US Federal Reserve that piled more pressure on Emerging Markets. Georgia’s interest rate measured 4% at the start of 2015.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

Tengri drops Kyrgyz project

DEC. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — London-listed Tengri Resources said two mines it has been exploring in Kyrgyzstan “host large resources with significant upside exploration potential” but that it won’t exploit them because of low commodity prices. Tengri Resources’ shares fell 17.4% to 3p, a 9 month low, after the announcement. The company had been exploring the Taldybulak and the nearby Andash mines. Gold prices have fallen by 11% this year and copper prices by 25%.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

Kazakh businessman buys controlling stake in BTA Bank Ukraine

DEC. 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Ukraine’s Antimonopoly Committee gave permission to Kazakh businessman Kenes Rakishev to buy a majority stake in BTA Bank Ukraine, strengthening his control over Kazakhstan’s banking assets.

One day before disclosing Mr Rakishev as the mystery buyer, the Ukrainian regulator said it had given the green light to a citizen of Kazakhstan to buy the 50.007% stake in BTA Bank that Kazkommertsbank, Kazakhstan’s largest lender, didn’t already own.

Kazkommertsbank and Mr Rakishev completed the takeover of BTA Bank in Kazakhstan earlier in 2015.

This takeover deal, though, only concerned the Kazakhstan-based parent company. BTA Group also owns banks in Russia, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Turkey and Ukraine.

Now, Mr Rakishev will control BTA’s subsidiary in Ukraine, buying it from Andryi Levkovsky, a Ukrainian businessman linked to several investment companies.

The 36-year-old Mr Rakishev is the son-in-law of Kazakhstan’s powerful defence minister Imangali Tasmagambetov and is considered a member of the country’s most inner clique of elite.

BTA Bank Ukraine’s results in the first three quarters of the year were positive. Net income grew by 30% to $119,800, making the bank a small player in Ukrainian market. The bank’s total assets amount to 2.8b hryvnia ($120m).

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

Uzbekistan restricts the arts

DEC. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Uzbek government is imposing increasingly tough rules over artists and singers, the BBC reported. It said singers will have to provide quarterly reports on their performances so that the authorities can ensure that they are hitting the required level of “spiritual and cultural values and national traditions”.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)