Tag Archives: business

Tethys looks for a new partner as debts mount up in Kazakhstan

ALMATY, JAN. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Guernsey-based Tethys Petroleum said it will seek alternative funding after Kazakhstan-based Olisol missed a payment on a share deal agreed last year.

In a press statement, Tethys said it had received just $5m of the $15m promised by Olisol. According to Tethys, privately-owned Olisol missed the Jan. 22 deadline to send a $2m tranche of its commitment to secure a stake in the company.

Olisol has said the delay was due to currency controls in Kazakhstan linked to the sharp depreciation of the Kazakh tenge over the few past months.

And Tethys is still hopeful that it will receive Olisol’s funding.

“Should the overdue funds under the interim facility arrive in a timely manner however, Tethys will continue to work with Olisol to close the wider transaction,” Tethys, which is involved in oil and gas projects across Georgia and Central Asia, said.

Tethys needs cash to meet its debt deadlines. Last year it missed a couple of consecutive cash calls at its project in Tajikistan, the Bokhtar exploration block. Its partners in the project, China’s CNPC and France’s Total, have called on it to drop out. The Tajik government has also said it would be interested in taking a stake in Bokhtar.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

KAZ Minerals output drop

JAN. 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Despite increasing copper production by 300% in 2015, KAZ Minerals still posted a 3% reduction in copper cathode, its finished product. The company, focused on Kazakhstan, said the quality of the copper ore it mined was below average. London-listed KAZ Minerals, previously known as Kazakhmys, also said its copper cathode production dropped from 83,500 to 81,100 tonnes.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Czech steel maker delivers materials to Azerbaijan

JAN. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Czech steel maker Trinecke Zelezarny delivered to Azerbaijan material for the renovation of a railway route. Last September, Trinecke Zelezarny won a 15b crowns ($605m) contract to supply and repair over 600km of rails. The company sealed the contract after Czech President Milos Zeman visited Baku in September 2015. Azerbaijan is also the second-largest oil exporter to the Czech Republic after Russia.

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(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

China invests in Kazakhstan’s agribusiness

JAN. 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — China’s COFCO and Rifa Holding Group were part of a group of Chinese companies to sign a $1.7b investment deal in Kazakhstan’s agribusiness, Gulmira Isayeva the Kazakh deputy minister of agriculture said. Twelve of the 19 projects will focus on the Almaty region. The projects will focus on processing animal and vegetable products for export to China.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Azerbaijan’s electricity exports halve

JAN. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s customs agency said electricity exports had halved in 2015 compared to the previous year. Azerbaijan exported 276.8m kWh of electricity in 2015 against 588.3m kWh in 2014. Demand for electricity in Azerbaijan has soared, forcing it to divert exports for domestic consumption.

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(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Heli-Skiing expands in Georgia

JAN. 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Austrian company Wucher Helikopter said it applied to the government of Georgia for permission to open a heli-skiing business near the Gudauri ski resort, 30km south of the border with Russia. Wucher Helikopter has worked in the Gudauri-Stepantsminda area since 2013. Its expansion would be a boon to Georgia’s winter tourism.

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(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Kyrgyz hydropower station operates at full

JAN. 24 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev told parliament that the Toktogul hydropower station was now operating at full capacity after an outage just before Christmas knocked out a couple of the power generating units , media reported. Toktogul is Kyrgyzstan’s biggest hydropower station and its breakdown forced Kyrgyzstan to buy electricity from neighbouring Kazakhstan.

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(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Inver House looks to grow in Kazakhstan

JAN. 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Scottish distiller Inver House, which produces a range of alcoholic drinks from whisky to gin to beer, said it would target Kazakhstan, among other countries, after a 20% increase in production following a £10m ($14.3m) investment in its manufacturing site in Scotland.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Kyrgyzstan’s tax police raids Chinese refinery

JAN. 20 2016, BISHKEK (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyz police raided the China-run Junda oil refinery in the north of the country and accused it of evading 54.5m som ($716,000) in taxes, charges that will strain Kyrgyzstan-China relations.

During the raid, police detained the company’s deputy director Lin Yu-shan and placed its accountant, Lyudmila Marchenko, under house arrest.

Baktybek Ashirov, head of the Kyrgyz state service for combating economic crimes, told Parliament that the Junda refinery had paid 30m som ($400,000) in taxes but that was far below what it should have paid.

“The inspections showed that they should have paid twice as much, that is, there was hiding of information and an underestimation of production,” he was quoted as saying by local media.

Junda hasn’t commented.

For foreign investors in Kyrgyzstan, the charges are a worry. They have previously complained that local elite and the authorities have colluded to pressure various businesses into paying more tax, fines or giving up equity stakes in projects.

And the Junda refinery, built by the China Petrol Company for $430m, has seemingly had to deal with a large dose of misfortune since opening in January 2014.

First, protests by locals complaining of poor air quality forced it to stop production, then crude oil supplies dropped so low that it had to limit output.

The authorities said that despite the raid and the arrests, the Junda oil refinery, one of two in Kyrgyzstan, was operating as normal.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Italian Inalca and Kazakh Aktep sign deal

JAN. 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Italian beef processing company Inalca and Kazakh company Aktep signed a deal to create a joint venture and build new factories in the country. The new company will increase Aktep’s current production five-fold to 12,000 tonnes per year of meat products. Inalca Eurasia, Inalca’s daughter company, said it will invest €100m ($109m) in the project.

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(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)