MARCH 17 2015 (The Bulletin) – Hyatt Hotels said that it expects to open a new hotel in Tbilisi by 2017. The announcement will be a boost to Georgia’s tourist and foreign business sectors.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 13 2015 (The Bulletin) – Garment production in Kyrgyzstan dropped by 50% in the first two months of the year, media quoted the Kyrgyz national statistics agency as saying. The agency did not say why clothing output had plummeted but it may be linked to the regional economic downturn.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 12 2015 (The Bulletin) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has opened up an office in the town of Khujand in north Tajikistan to help support small business, media reported. The EBRD has been extending its Tajik projects.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 17 2015 (The Bulletin) – Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev flew to Kars in Turkey to launch construction of the $10b Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) which will pump gas from the Caspian to Europe. Also present were Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan and Georgian president Giorgi Margvelashvili.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 17 2015 (The Bulletin) – In a statement on its global oil and gas output, Russia’s Lukoil said although there were pressures on its downstream production sites, its projects in Uzbekistan were on target. Lukoil is a major investor in Uzbekistan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 17 2015 (The Bulletin) – Air Armenia, Armenia’s only major passenger airline, has delayed re-starting services, media quoted head of marketing, Sirakan Hambardzumyan, as saying. Air Armenia’s suspended flights in October last year because of a cash flow problem. It had been due to resume flights in March.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 13 2015 (The Bulletin) – Uzbekistan has agreed to buy two high-speed trains from the Spanish company Talgo, media reported. The Uzbek government is spending millions on updating its train network.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 13 2015 (The Bulletin) – Pakistan wants to increase energy cooperation with Uzbekistan, media reported, a potential boost for the Uzbek oil and gas sector.
Western energy companies such as London-listed Tethys Petroleum are gradually exiting Uzbekistan because of a worsening business environment.
Pakistan is also lobbying for Uzbekistan to participate in the TAPI pipeline project that would bring Turkmen gas to India, passing through Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Uzbekneftegaz, the national oil and gas company in Uzbekistan, annually produces 63b cubic metres (bcm) of gas mostly for domestic consumption.
The government has a plan to increase both production and exports and to reduce wasteful use by 2020. The aim to export up to 16bcm by 2020 is well short of Uzbekistan’s regional commitments.
Notwithstanding the declining demand in Russia for Uzbek gas, China is asking for 10bcm and Pakistan’s demands might just be impossible to meet.
Furthermore, the TAPI project has proved to be a difficult one to realise and the timeline for its completion in 2017 is still under review.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 14 2015 (The Bulletin) – Pakistan’s president Mamnoon Hussein hailed talks with President Ilham Aliyev in Baku as a milestone in relations between the two countries.
Importantly for Azerbaijan, Mr Hussein underlined Pakistan’s support for Azerbaijan’s stance over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenian-backed rebels have controlled the region since a UN-brokered 1994 ceasefire.
“We’ve always supported Azerbaijan’s stance, which we think is the right one,” he said.
Increasing support for its drive to win back the region of Nagorno-Karabakh is a key foreign policy plank for Azerbaijan.
Trade and diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Pakistan are currently light and Pakistan’s main interest is probably in securing much needed energy supplies.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 13 2015 (The Bulletin) – Kashagan, the giant oil field in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea which was supposed to lift Kazakhstan into the top tier of global energy producers, may not resume output until 2017, the Shell energy company said.
This is, effectively, a six month delay to the schedule Kazakh officials have been promoting. Kazakh officials had talked up 2016 as the re-start date.
“Replacement activities are ongoing, with production expected to restart in 2017,” Shell said in its annual report.
Shell owns a 16.8% stake in Kashagan.
It has reliable information on how essential maintenance is progressing.
Kashagan has turned into one of the biggest white elephants in global energy history. It was supposed to be operational by 2013 but leaky pipes were discovered shortly after output started at the multi-billion-dollar project.
Other Kashagan shareholders include Italy’s ENI, the US’ Exxon, France’s Total, China’s CNPC, and Kazakhstan’s KazMunaiGaz.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
