Category Archives: Uncategorised

Azerbaijan’s GDP shrinks in Jan-Oct

NOV. 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s finance minister Samir Sharifov admitted in a parliamentary session that the country’s overall GDP had dropped by 3.7% between Jan. and Oct. this year. He also said, and this is important as Azerbaijan has said it wants to diversify away from oil and gas production, that the non-oil part of the economy had shrunk by over 6%. Azerbaijan has been badly hit by the fall in oil prices and a recession in Russia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 307, published on Dec. 2 2016)

Defaming Aliyev is criminal, votes Azerbaijan’s parliament

NOV. 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s parliament voted to make defamation of the president on the internet a criminal offence, a move that President Ilham Aliyev’s critics say highlights just how authoritarian his administration has become. Defamation has been a criminal offence for three years in Azerbaijan but there had previously been no specific mention of the president. The internet is important in Azerbaijan as it is, or was, one of the only places were Azerbaijanis could swap news and views relatively safely.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 307, published on Dec. 2 2016)

Taliban to protect Turkmen pipeline

NOV. 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Apparently in a bid to win popular support from locals, the Taliban have pledged to protect major infrastructure projects planned for Afghanistan, media reported, including the ambitious TAPI gas pipeline that is being built. TAPI is supposed to run from Turkmenistan to India via Pakistan and Afghanistan. It is one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects attempted. One of its major weaknesses, its critics pointed out, was the poor security situation in Afghanistan. If they do support TAPI, the Taliban would immediately improve its prospects of success.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 307, published on Dec. 2 2016)

Kazakhstan links two gas pipelines, boosting flows to China

ALMATY, NOV. 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s state- owned distributor KazTransGas said it had completed building a compressor station that will link two main gas pipelines and allow it to pump more gas to China, a key client for Central Asian energy producers.

The Bukhara-Bishkek-Almaty pipeline will now be linked directly to the Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline, boosting Kazakhstan’s transit capacity and securing supplies to Almaty, Kazakhstan’s biggest city. The route will allow the giant gas fields in the west of Kazakhstan to pump gas directly to China.

Dair Kusherov, deputy director of KazTransGas enthused about the options that linking the pipelines would bring.

“First, we have opened a route to export domestic gas to China, expanding our export and transport capabilities,” media quoted him as saying at the opening of the compressor station. “Second, the link will provide uninterrupted gas supplies to the city of Almaty and Almaty region. Third, the new station provides a backup route for uninterrupted gas supply to consumers in Almaty via gas pipeline bypassing the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic.”

Boosting its gas transit options eastwards also highlights China’s dominance over energy flows from Central Asia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 307, published on Dec. 2 2016)

Azerbaijani gold miner connects to grid

NOV. 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijani gold miner Anglo Asian said it connected its Gedabek mine to the national electricity grid, which would save the company around $2.3m/year. The connection cost $2.1m. Previously, the company used diesel generators to produce electricity. Anglo Asian CEO Reza Vaziri said that with unrestrained and cheaper electricity, the company will also be able to expand production.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 307, published on Dec. 2 2016)

Kazakh President declines to rename Astana

NOV. 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a carefully orchestrated show of modesty, Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev declined to rename Astana, the capital city he built on Kazakhstan’s windswept steppe, after himself. He made the announcement during an interview with Russia-24. Parliament had made the suggestion earlier in November. Mr Nazarbayev critics accuse him of building a personality cult. Mr Nazarbayev has appeared more interested in burnishing his image and legacy over the past few years, allowing statues of himself to be built and appearing on a new bank note. Analysts had said he may fancy renaming Astana after himself.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 307, published on Dec. 2 2016)

Kazakh court sentences gunman to life

NOV. 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Aktobe, west Kazakhstan, sentenced seven men who shot dead eight people in a series of attacks earlier this year to life jail sentences. Eighteen more people who helped the group were given between two and five year prison sentences. The judge described the men, who attacked a police outpost, as Islamic extremists.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 307, published on Dec. 2 2016)

Fertiliser corruption unfolds in Armenia

DEC. 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia’s State Commission on the Protection of Economic Competition said the government had wasted millions of dollars after it gave a contract in 2012 to a single company called Berriutyun to supply fertilisers across the country. There had previously been multiple suppliers. The commission said Berriutyun, linked to a former finance minister, had artificially increased prices by 36%.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 307, published on Dec. 2 2016)

Tax authorities in Kazakhstan investigate Karachaganak

NOV. 24 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said the tax authorities are investigating the consortium operating the Karachaganak gas and condensate field in the north of the country for unpaid taxes and that the government will seek a new profit sharing scheme. Anglo-Dutch energy company Shell and Italy’s Eni are the field’s operators and largest shareholders with a 29.25% stake each. US-based Chevron (18%), Russia’s Lukoil (13.5%) and state-owned Kazmunaigas (10%) own the rest.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 307, published on Dec. 2 2016)

UK’s Gunsynd invests in Azerbaijan

NOV. 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — British investment company Gunsynd increased its stake in Zenith Energy, a Canada-based oil and gas company focused on Azerbaijan. Gunsynd bought 300,000 shares for £49,000 ($62,000) and now holds a 1.6% stake in the company. Zenith’s subsidiary, Zenith Aran Oil, signed a production sharing agreement with state-owned SOCAR in March for the exploitation of several small- scale oil fields.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 307, published on Dec. 2 2016)