Category Archives: Uncategorised

Iran and Turkmenistan agree deal to send oil swaps to Azerbaijan

OCT. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Iran and Turkmenistan signed a swap deal to, essentially, send 1b cubic metres of Turkmen gas to Azerbaijan every year.

The deal means that Iran will become a land bridge between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, potentially giving gas supplies to Europe a boost.

Under the deal, Turkmenistan will send 1b cubic metres of gas to Iran’s northern border and Iran will then deliver the equivalent to its border with Azerbaijan.

The swap deal is both an improvement for regional gas transport and an advantageous arrangement for Iran. Iran suffers from gas shortages in its north-east and supplies from Turkmenistan, besides generating transit revenues, will also help reduce this deficit.

For Turkmenistan the deal is an essential part of its diversification strategy. Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan have long touted a pipeline running across the Caspian Sea that could pump Turkmen gas westwards to Europe, as part of the wider Southern Gas Corridor network. This would secure valuable supplies from the region to Europe by giving Azerbaijan’s gas sector, which needs extra gas to fill the prospective TAN- AP-TAP pipeline network, a boost and also allow Turkmenistan to reduce its dependence on China.

The sticking point for a Caspian Sea pipeline has been Russia, though.

Russia has repeatedly said that a trans-Caspian pipeline would have to be approved by all littoral states and has, at times, threatened the use of force against unilateral decisions.

This swap deal, potentially, creates a way to send oil shipments from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan, and then on to Europe, using Iran as a land bridge.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

S&P upgrades ratings of Kazakhs lenders

OCT. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Ratings agency S&P increased the long term credit rating of Kazkommertsbank, one of Kazakhstan’s largest lenders, by one notch to B- from CCC+. S&P said the reason for the upgrade were the positive results in the first half of 2016 and the increased capitalisation of the bank. S&P also said the outlook remained negative, reflect- ing low confidence in Kazakhstan’s banking sector.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Condor starts production in western Kazakhstan

OCT. 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Canadian oil company Condor Petroleum said it started commercial production at its Taskuduk field, 50km west of Uralsk in north- western Kazakhstan. Condor said that, together with Shoba, another Kazakh oil field that started operations in September, its total output has reached 600 barrels/day. The company said its production cost remained low, at $28/barrel, allowing a $29/barrel profit in the first sales contract.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

ArcelorMittal resumes in central Kazakhstan

OCT. 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – ArcelorMittal Temirtau, the subsidiary of the Luxembourg-based steel- maker, said it resumed operations at its plant in central Kazakhstan. The company had to cut production for three days, due to administrative issues which blocked train transport. In a separate note, the company said that Mojtaba Damirchilu, Iran’s ambassador to Kazakhstan, visited the plant and pledged to increase Iranian imports of ArcelorMittal Temirtau’s steel by 1/3 to 1.5m tonnes next year. Iran is ArcelorMittal’s biggest client. The international sanctions on Iran had hit its demand for steel, hurting the Kazakh steelmaker.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Turkmen President calls a presidential election

OCT. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan’s President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov called an election for Feb. 12, barely a month after he tweaked the country’s constitution to allow him to rule for life.

Mr Berdymukhamedov, who won a presidential election in 2012 with 97% of the vote, is expected to easily win next year’s vote, his third election since winning power in 2007.

But like the rest of the region, Turkmenistan’s economy has been creaking under a slump in global energy prices. This could make the election more complicated than previous votes.

Last month the 59-year-old Mr Berdymukhamedov removed an age cap of 70-years from the Turkmen constitution and also extended presidential terms to seven from five years, inline with many of his Central Asian peers.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

EBRD gives loan to Turkmenistan

OCT. 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The EBRD lent $850,000 to Gul Zaman, Turkmenistan’s largest events and catering company, to expand its business and create a premium industrial-scale bakery. The EBRD said that the EU will also provide grants and training for the project. Last month, the EBRD gave a $2.8m loan to a Turkmen brewer to build a potato crisp plant.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Radicals attack transgender in Georgia

OCT. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Human rights groups called for the Georgian government to do more to fight hate crimes after a transgender woman was badly stabbed in an apparent attempted murder. Georgia has seen a rise in attacks and marches by rightwing radicals over the past few years. Last month a group of nationalists marched through a street in the old town of Tbilisi taunting foreigners.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Nine die in crash in east Uzbekistan

OCT. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Nine people, including six soldiers, died in a helicopter crash in east Uzbekistan, media reported. The helicopter that crashed was a Mi-171, a Soviet-built troop transport. Uzbek media described the crash as an accident but didn’t give any more details. There have been several accidents involving the Mi- 171 over the past few years.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Uzbekistan’s power sharing details emerge

OCT. 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan’s clans have pulled together behind Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the acting president and PM, in a power-sharing deal designed to ensure stability after the death of Islam Karimov last month, diplomatic sources told Reuters news agency.

Analysts, including The Conway Bulletin, have said that the smooth promotion of Mr Mirziyoyev and his seemingly inevitable victory in a presidential election in December, suggested that a deal had been done between Uzbekistan’s key power-brokers, but this is the first time that diplomatic sources have gone on record to confirm this.

The unnamed sources said that both Security Service chief Rustam Inoyatov and finance minister Rustam Azimov supported Mr Mirziyoyev as the Uzbek elites’ front-man but that he would consult with them on major decisions.

“Rival clans had agreed that Mirziyoyev would be the public face of the Uzbek leadership with the title of president, but that he would in reality not be able to make independent decisions,” Reuters quoted the sources as saying.

This is not without precedent in Central Asia, where succession issues have dominated politics. In 2006, when Turkmen president Saparmurat Niyazov died, Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, an obscure former dentist, was picked to become president as a compromise by the various power groups. He, though, has since developed a personality cult and rules the country virtually single-handedly.

In Uzbekistan, Karimov had ruled for 25 years, ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, although it was clear that in the last couple of years he and his family had ceded control to other people.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 300, published on Oct. 14 2016)

Gazprom influence grows over Armenia’s government

OCT. 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan appointed the CEO of Gazprom Armenia, Vardan Harutyunyan, as head of the state revenue committee, a move that confirms the growing influence of Russia’s Gazprom in the government.

In September Mr Sargsyan appointed Karen Karapetyan as PM. Mr Karapetyan had been the mayor of Yerevan and previously, also, CEO of Gazprom Armenia.

Mr Harutyunyan had worked at Gazprom since 2009 and was named CEO in 2010, after Mr Karapetyan’s departure.

After his appointment as PM, Mr Karapetyan also nominated Gazprom’s express secretary, Shushan Sardaryan, as his adviser.

Gazprom Armenia is a fully owned subsidiary of Gazprom, the Russian gas giant. Russia is one of Armenia’s biggest allies, maintaining a large military base in the country.

Mr Harutyunyan’s new position puts him in charge of collecting taxes and administering government revenues.

Heading Gazprom Armenia is one of the most important jobs in the country. Gazprom supplies most of Armenia’s gas, via Georgia, although the government is trying to secure more imports from Iran. Media in Armenia suggested that Tigran Karapetyan, the PM’s 29- year-old son, may be given the job.

Russia has previously been accused of using Gazprom to pressure and influence foreign governments.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 300, published on Oct. 14 2016)