JAN. 4 2015, (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan may have serious problems making its national budget work with oil prices dropping below $50/barrel, media reported (Jan. 4). The government’s budget estimates are calculated at oil costing $90/barrel. Oil revenues directly contribute over half the government’s revenue.
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(News report from Issue No. 213, published on Jan. 7 2015)
DEC. 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The consortium developing the Karachaganak oil and gas site (KPO) in west Kazakhstan denied that a gas leak at its plant poisoned 20 children and three teachers at a school in a nearby village.
Ambulances rushed the children and teachers to hospital after they suddenly fainted on Nov. 28.
KPO made the statement after Kazakh media widely quoted the Prosecutor-General for Kazakhstan’s western region, Serik Karamanov, saying that there had been a brief gas leak the day before the mass fainting at the Karachaganak site only a few kilometres away from the village.
The KPO statement said: “A mobile environmental monitoring station has also been despatched to Berezovka village and has reported no exceedances above the official Maximum Permissible Concentration limits.”
Whether the Kazakh authorities agree, remains to be seen.
Mr Karamanov was clear about what he thought may have been the cause of the poisoning.
“It has been established that at 14:19 on November 27 at the gas-processing complex of KPO, there occurred a discharge of condensate for a period of two minutes,” he said according to local media reports.
The incident is a reminder of the tension at local levels between the foreign-led projects in the energy sector and local communities who accuse them of not doing enough to protect their environment.
Karachaganak is important to Kazakhstan. It is considered one of the country’s most successful projects, and produces around 40% of Kazakhstan’s gas and 13% of its oil. Britain’s BG Group and Italy’s ENI own a 29.5% stake each, Chevron owns 18%, Russia’s Lukoil owns 13.5% and the Kazakh state oil and gas company, KazMunaiGas owns 10%.
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(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)
NOV. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – BP said it had completed one-month long planned maintenance work on its Azeri, Chirag and Guneshli (ACG) on time. Azerbaijan has been pressuring BP to improve output at its ACG fields. ACG has been the main source of its oil revenues although this has flagged.
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(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
DEC. 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh PM Karim Massimov said Kazakhstan wanted to develop shale gas sites, industry website shaleenergyinsider.com reported. The website quoted Mr Massimov talking at an energy conference. If Mr Massimov acts on his statement it would mark a change in Kazakhstan’s energy policy.
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(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
NOV. 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A gas explosion in a block of flats in the city of Taldykorgan in south Kazakhstan killed at least seven people, media reported. Media quoted the emergency services as saying improper use of gas cylinders had caused the explosion. The accident highlights poor infrastructure used in Kazakhstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
NOV. 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – French oil major Total expects to start gas production at the Apsheron field by 2021, media reported by quoting Eric Meyer, Total’s planning development manager. The announcement will no doubt be welcomed by Azerbaijan which wants its energy production credentials increased.
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(News report from Issue No. 210, published on Nov. 26 2014)
NOV. 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijani media reported on yet another trip to Ashgabat by the head of Socar, Azerbaijan’s oil and gas company, Rovnag Abdullayev.
Mr Abdullayev was in Ashgabat for the opening of major gas conference. It’s an important time for Azerbaijan- Turkmenistan relations because Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has agreed to sign up to a new pipeline running from Baku, the Azerbaijani capital, to Europe.
Visits by Mr Abdullayev to Ashgabat may appear fairly routine but each trip brings the two countries closer together.
Europe sees Turkmen gas as critical for reducing its reliance on Russian energy and considers the pipeline running from the Caspian Sea to central Europe to be the easiest way to supply the gas.
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(News report from Issue No. 210, published on Nov. 26 2014)
NOV. 14 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s energy transport monopoly KazTransGas regained control of its Georgian subsidiary, KazTransGas-Tbilisi. Georgia had effectively expropriated the company in 2009 over unpaid debt. KazTransGas- Tbilisi owns a 2,400km gas distribution system in Georgia.
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(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)
NOV. 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Italian energy company ENI said it had signed a deal with Turkmenistan to extend its operations in the country.
The deal is important for ENI because it has been criticised for its operations in Kazakhstan, particularly its running of the delayed and over budget Kashagan field in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea. By extending its presence in Turkmenistan, something that the company has been working on all year, ENI underlines its commitment to Central Asia.
At a signing ceremony alongside Italian PM Matteo Renzi, Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said that ENI had agreed a deal to extend one onshore production sharing agreement and three offshore exploration areas.
“We have come to a conclusion that there must be an active investment ideology present in our countries’ relations,” he said without giving any more terms of the deals.
China is Turkmenistan’s main gas client but Europe is also becoming more important. Earlier this month it signed a deal with a consortium building a pipeline from Baku to central Europe. This pipeline will deliver Turkmen gas to central Europe for the first time.
Turkmenistan is estimated to hold the world’s fourth largest gas reserves.
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(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)
NOV. 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Canadian miner Stans Energy said Kyrgyzstan was trying to revoke its licences for two rare earth mines that it owns. The row is part of a long-running dispute between Stans Energy and Kyrgyzstan. Stans Energy has said that it will quit Kyrgyzstan altogether, dealing another blow to the country’s investor image.
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(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)
