FEB. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The ecology department in the Mangistau regional government issued Ozenmunaigas, a subsidiary of Kazakh state-owned energy company Kazmunaigas, a fine of $1.8b for environmental damage. Ozenmunaigas refuted the claim. Environmental fines are sometimes used to pressure companies.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
FEB. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Looking to move out of projects in which it owns only a minority share, Total announced plans to sell its 10% stake in Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz oil field.
Botas, a Turkish pipeline company, confirmed that it is in talks to buy Total’s stake.
There will probably be others interested too. Azerbaijan is an attractive place for countries in the region which need to boost their energy supplies. Last year India’s state-owned ONGC Videsh bought a stake in Azerbaijan’s biggest oil field for $1b.
A Botas spokesman explained the attraction of buying into Shah Deniz. “The acquisition of a 10% stake from Total is commercially profitable,” he told Reuters.
Shah Deniz is the mainstay of Azerbaijan’s gas industry and is currently the subject of a $28b expansion. Some analysts said the cost of the expansion may have triggered Total’s sale plans.
Importantly, a purchase by Botas of Total’s stake would reduce Western Europe’s interest in a gas field which is critical to its long-term energy plans. Azerbaijan has increasingly turned to Turkey, its natural partner, to push through infrastructure and energy projects.
Total is the second major energy company to exit the Shah Deniz project in the Caspian Sea in the past couple of months.
In December, Norway’s Statoil cut its stake in Shah Deniz to 15.5% from 25.5%. Statoil sold this 10% stake for $1.45b to BP and Socar, Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company, indicating that Total may be able to fetch a similar price for its own stake.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
FEB. 26 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — BP’s top executive in the Caucasus, Gordon Birrell, told Reuters the consortium exploiting the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) oil field in the Caspian Sea would invest $2b into the project this year. Azerbaijan has put the BP-led consortium under pressure to stem a decline in oil production at ACG. ACG is the biggest oil field in Azerbaijan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
MARCH 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Petrovietnam, Vietnam’s state-owned energy company, has agreed to buy 3.5m barrels of Azeri crude oil this year, it said in a statement. The deal is a significant success for Azerbaijan which is looking to extend its client base and its international standing.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
FEB. 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh state-owned pipeline monopoly KazTransGaz agreed to take a $700m loan from the China Development Bank to build a second 311km gas pipeline from southern Kazakhstan to China. The loan highlights the dominance of Chinese finance and its hunger for gas in Central Asia.
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
FEB. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan hopes that its long-delayed Caspian Sea oil field Kashagan will finally start producing oil in the second half of the year. Kazakh PM Serik Akhmetov said he hoped Kashagan, which cost $50b to build, would produce 3m tonnes of oil this year. A gas leak halted production last year.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
MARCH 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Lawmakers in Tajikistan’s lower house discussed the draft of a new law that investors hope will help them to do business in its emerging energy sector.
Tajikistan, dependent on fuel imports from Russia and unfriendly neighbour Uzbekistan, is desperate to unlock its own significant hydrocarbons potential. It hopes to both achieve energy security and earn much-needed revenue.
The problem is that the legislation appears unreformed and Byzantine even.
Although details of the law under discussion haven’t been released, it is understood that it is aimed at addressing these problems.
Russia’s Gazprom, Channel Islands-registered Tethys, France’s Total and China’s CNPC are all prospecting in Tajikistan, the latter trio joining forces to exploit the Bokhtar license area in the south-west of the republic which may hold over 3 trillion cubic metres of gas.
Neighbouring China will be the primary customer when — or perhaps at this stage that should still be an ‘if’ — Bokhtar starts gas production.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
MARCH 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmennebit, the Turkmen state-owned energy company, plans to increase exploration in the Caspian Sea after hitting oil in a handful of test wells, media reported. Over the past decade Turkmenistan has turned itself into a regional energy powerhouse.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
FEB. 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan has begun constructing a gas chemical complex on the shores of the Caspian Sea, media reported. Turkmenistan has grown wealthy from natural gas sales over the past few years and is trying to boost its domestic industrial base.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)
FEB. 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan may experience fuel shortages this year, media quoted Sauat Mynbayev, head of Kazmunaigas, as saying. Kazakhstan’s three oil refineries are being upgrading, reducing their capacity and forcing the authorities to import fuel from Russia. The currency devaluation has made fuel imports expensive.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)
