SEPT. 11 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Britain’s Rolls Royce has won a $175m contract to build compressor units to pump gas along a 1,115km pipeline from Kazakhstan to China, media reported quoting Beimbet Shayakhmetov, general director of the Asia Gas Pipeline. The pipeline is one of several being built in Central Asia.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
SEPT. 13 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The leaders of Russia, China and the Central Asian states except Turkmenistan met in Bishkek for a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit. The SCO, described by some as a counterbalance to NATO, agreed to support Russia on blocking a US attack on Syria after a suspected chemical weapons attack.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
SEPT. 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A steel plant owned by ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steelmaker, in Kazakhstan has introduced a shorter working week because of a drop in demand for its products, local media quoted Reuters as reporting. ArcelorMittal’s plant at Temirtau, near Karaganda, has seen demand drop because of Western sanctions against Iran, a major client.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
SEPT. 7 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — On a tour of Central Asia, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev in Astana. Alongside other deals, they finalised a deal for China to buy an 8.33% stake in Kashagan, a Caspian Sea oil project, for $5b. China beat India for the stake in Kazakhstan’s biggest energy project.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 151, published on Sept. 11 2013)
SEPT. 10 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Xi Jinping, China’s president, toured Central Asia’s capitals meeting leaders and sealing business deals. In Turkmenistan Mr Xi inaugurated the start of production at Galkynysh, the world’s second biggest gas field, and in Kazakhstan he confirmed a $5b deal to buy an 8.33% share in the Kashagan oil field.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 151, published on Sept. 11 2013)
SEPT. 4 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — During a trip by Afghan officials to Baku, the Azerbaijani energy minister, Natik Aliyev, said that Azerbaijan may help build a series of small oil refineries in Afghanistan. Azerbaijan officials have been talking up the prospect of investing more heavily in Afghanistan’s energy sector.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 151, published on Sept. 11 2013)
SEPT. 9 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — There was never much doubt but, eager to clarify after Armenia’s earlier announcement, local media quoted an unnamed source close to the Azerbaijani government as saying that Azerbaijan does not plan on joining Russia’s Customs Union. Armenia said it will join Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan in the Customs Union.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 151, published on Sept. 11 2013)
SEPT. 9 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Gunmen shot dead a Russian diplomat in Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia. Criminal deals have been touted as a possible motive for the murder of Dmitry Vishernev, First Secretary at the Russian consul, although his death could unsettle Georgia-Russia relations. Russia recognises Abkhazia’s independence.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 151, published on Sept. 11 2013)
SEPT. 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Corruption and a poorly educated workforce are the biggest problems to doing business in Kazakhstan, according to executives interviewed in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitive Index. The index ranked Kazakhstan at 50th position, up one place from last year, out of 148 countries.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 151, published on Sept. 11 2013)
SEPT. 10 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) –Just as first oil from the giant Kashagan field in Kazakhstan’s sector of the Caspian Sea draws tantalisingly close, a partner in one of its main export routes has warned of a delay to planned capacity expansion.
In an interview with Reuters, Mikhail Barkov, vice-president at Russian pipeline monopoly Transneft, said work to expand the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) pipeline that runs from Atyrau in west Kazakhstan to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiik had been delayed by 6-12 months.
He didn’t give any reason for the delay.
Transneft is the largest shareholder in CPC, followed by Kazmunaigas and US oil major Chevron. There are several other smaller shareholders. The pipeline started operations in 2001 and has been an important export route for Kazakh oil, mainly from the Chevron-led Tengizchevroil project.
The plan had been to roughly double the capacity of CPC to about 1.3m barrels of oil a day by 2015, partly to cope with extra supplies from the Kashagan oil field.
News of the CPC delay is likely to frustrate Kazakh oil exporters, particularly as they were set to soon celebrate the first oil from Kashagan after years of delays and cost overruns.
On Sept. 7, Sauat Mynbayev, head of Kazmunaigas, said that Kashagan would start production within a month.
An expanded CPC has been touted as one of the primary export routes for oil from Kashagan. The expansion delay is likely to push oil from Kashagan — operated by a consortium of ENI, ExxonMobil, Total, Kazmunaigas, Shell, Inpex and now China’s CNPC — onto other export routes wholly owned by Russia.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 151, published on Sept. 11 2013)
