Tag Archives: business

Stock market: KAZ Minerals

OCT. 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Over the course of just a few months, KAZ Minerals has nearly doubled its stock price in London, reaching 267.1p by Thursday.

The company, which operates in Kazakhstan’s copper mining sector, continues to rally off the back of good production results throughout the year and timidly growing copper prices, now at 2.11/lb.

Copper prices, which have fallen sharply from the $3/lb of November 2014, had hovered at around 2.15/lb in September, before dropping back. But now the feeling is that prices are moving back up.

China, a major copper consumer, posted steady growth prospect and negative news from the US housing market indirectly bodes well for copper prices. Sluggish US economic news weakens the dollar and pushes up prices. KAZ Minerals improved its position in both production and revenues this year, mostly due to the start of the Aktogay project, which cost $2.2b to put in operation.

ENDS

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

Kazakh President’s grandson says he bought 49% stake in Transtelecom in 2015

ALMATY, OCT. 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — After 18 months of rumours, Nurali Aliyev, grandson of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, revealed himself to be the mystery buyer of a 49% stake in Kazakhstan’s telecoms network, Transtelecom.

The 8.9b tenge ($48m at the time) sale was agreed in May 2015, but the identity of the buyer was shielded from the public. At the time of the deal, Mr Aliyev was the deputy mayor of Astana. Kazakhstan’s state-owned railway company, Temir Zholy still holds a 51% stake in Transtelecom.

In an interview with the pro-government Tengrinews website, Mr Aliyev confirmed rumours on opposition websites that he had bought the stake.

“One of the reasons for my departure from the government service was the acquisition of a 49% stake in Transtelecom as part of the privatisation programme,” he said.

Mr Aliyev, 31, quit as deputy mayor of Astana in March this year, saying that he wanted to concentrate on his business commitments. He had held the position since Dec. 2013.

In Kazakhstan, it is fairly com- monplace for senior government members to own stakes in businesses.

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

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.

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(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)

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.

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

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

Azerbaijan’s SOCAR wants to sell stake

OCT. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – SOCAR Turkey Enerji, a subsidiary of Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company SOCAR, said it will consider selling part of a 5.32% stake it directly owns in Petkim, a petrochemical complex, near Izmir. SOCAR Turkey is also considering participating in the construction of the new Star refinery together with Russia’s Rosneft. Sustained low oil prices have pushed SOCAR to reshuffle their investments abroad.

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

Kazakhstan’s oil field produces first oil for 3 years

ALMATY, OCT. 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kashagan Caspian Sea oil field, Kazakhstan’s Great White economic hope, started producing oil for the first time since 2013, lifting spirits after a tough couple of years for the Kazakh economy Energy minister Kanat Bozumbayev confirmed the re-start of the $50b Kashagan, which was shut down in 2013 after a couple of weeks of operations because of leaky pipes.

“I checked this morning and production is active from four wells, yielding approximately 90,000 barrels/day,” he told media.

Kashagan is one of the biggest international oil finds of the the last 30 years and Kazakhstan hopes that it will propel the country into the premier league of oil producers.

At peak production, Kashagan aims for an output of 370,000 barrels/day. Total Kazakh production is currently 1.5b barrels/day.

Eni, Shell, ExxonMobil, Total, CNPC, Inpex and Kazmunaigas operate the Kashagan field.

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