DEC. 27 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — With gas supplies limited this winter, Kyrgyzstan has been reverting back to coal to keep its electricity and heating on, media reported. Media reported that state-owned coalminers produced 1.5m tonnes of coal in the first 11 months of last year, up by 22% from a year earlier.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)
DEC. 11 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s Kazkommertsbank posted a drop in profit for the nine months to the end of September 2014 of 10% mainly due to its purchase of BTA Bank which has a large amount of debt, media reported. Analysts said that Kazkommertsbank bought BTA Bank for political rather than business reasons.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)
JAN. 5 2015, (The Conway Bulletin) — Crude oil and oil product shipments from the Georgian port of Batumi fell by around 22% in 2014 compared to 2013 because of lower than expected exports from Kazakhstan and re-routing through pipelines, a port official told Reuters. Batumi oil terminal is controlled by Kazakh state energy company KazMunaiGas.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)
DEC. 14 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — China agreed to invest $3.8b into developing Kazakhstan’s potash deposits to produce a mineral that can be used in fertiliser production. The massive investment both underscores China’s interest in Kazakhstan and will also help Kazakhstan diversify its economy away from oil and gas.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)
DEC. 18 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — In an interview with Reuters, Georgian PM Georgy Margvelashvili said
that the downturn in the Russian economy had hit Georgia’s alcohol and water exports hardest. Russia allowed imports of water and wine from Georgia last year after a ban in 2006.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)
DEC. 30 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Pasha Bank, one of Azerbaijan’s biggest banks, has bought an 80% stake in Turkish bank TAIB for an undisclosed amount, media reported. The move by Pasha Bank shows the ambition of the Azerbaijani baking sector.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)
>>Re-starting gas supplies could improve relations>>
DEC. 30 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan has restarted gas supplies to Kyrgyzstan, ending an eight-month embargo.
This is significant as Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan relations had seemingly been drifting from bad to worse over border rows, water management and energy issues. Analysts had identified the cross-border tension as potentially destabilising to the whole region.
Media quoted Tahir Alimov, deputy director in Osh for Gazprom Kyrgyzstan, as saying that the gas started
flowing once again from Uzbekistan at 3am on Dec. 30. The resumption of gas supplies will be a major boon to Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev.
Kyrgyzstan has been negotiating with other countries across Central Asia to make up for the shortfall in Uzbek deliveries but, realistically, Kyrgyz officials were always going to fall short of making up for the lack of Uzbek gas.
Uzbekistan had switched off the gas supply to Kyrgyzstan in April when the current deal expired. Uzbekistan said that Kyrgyzstan didn’t want to negotiate a new deal.
Kyrgyzstan said that Uzbekistan wanted too high a price. At the same time Russia’s Gazprom completed a deal to buy Kyrgyzstan’s gas company and it seems that it, and not the Kyrgyz government, was able to negotiate a new deal.
Kyrgyz news agency 24.kg said that Uzbekistan and a Switzerland-based Gazprom-owned company had renegotiated the deal.
Perhaps, Gazprom has acted as a peace-maker.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)
JAN. 5 2015, (The Conway Bulletin) — Air Armenia, which suspended its international flights in October after declaring itself bankrupt, will re-start operations in March after agreeing a deal to sell 49% of the company to a Ukrainian company called East Prospect Fund, media reported. The news is important for Armenia’s travel links to Russia.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)
JAN. 6 2015, (The Conway Bulletin) — A Sheraton hotel, owned by the Starwood Hotels & Resorts brand, has opened in Dushanbe, media reported. Dushanbe is undergoing something of a hotel boom in recent years with several major chains opening in the Tajik capital.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)
DEC. 26 2014, (The Conway Bulletin) — Chinese energy company CNPC said it wanted to develop new gas fields in Uzbekistan. It wants to invest $277m in three fields — Dengizkul, Khojadavlat and East Alat — over the next five years. The announcement helps to secure China’s place as Central Asia’s biggest gas client.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)
