MAY 31 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In an interview with TV channel Russia-24, Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev said fears that China has excessive influence over Kazakhstan were unfounded. Mr Nazarbayev also said Kazakhstan and China were about to sign more bilateral deals. China has extended its foothold across Central Asia in the last decade.
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
JUNE 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan plans to produce the higher grade AI-92 and AI-95 petrol at a refinery in the north of the country, media reported quoting the Kazakh Development Bank. Kazakhstan has a shortage of refined oil products.
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
JUNE 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Seemingly undeterred by the fall in global oil prices over the past 12 months, Kazakhstan announced a new project to explore the Caspian Sea for more oil and gas deposits that it may be able to tap into.
Vladimir Shkolnik, Kazakhstan’s energy minister was talking to the Kazakh parliament when he made the announcement.
“Based on studies by international experts, the Caspian Depression is estimated to hold giant hydrocarbon reserves of some 60 billion tonnes of oil. This is why we are starting to implement the Eurasia project with the use of innovative geological technologies,” he said.
“Five of the world’s leading oil and gas companies have displayed interest in this project and we are now forming a consortium.”
If, though, Mr Shkolnik was high on grand gestures, he was weaker on the detail.
Mr Shkolnik may have said that five international companies were looking at joining the Kazakh government in a consortium, but he didn’t say which ones. Currently, with oil prices hovering per barrel, down from around $100 in the summer, exploring the Caspian Sea may not be an enticing prospect.
And there is also the small matter of Kashagan too. Kazakhstan and its partners have poured billions of dollars into this Caspian Sea oil field and yet it is still to produce significant quantities of oil.
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
JUNE 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan will start to take shipments of low-grade enriched uranium from 2017, Timur Zhantikin, an official in the Kazakh energy ministry said, two years after original hoped-for start date.
Uranium has been an important part of Kazakhstan’s post-Soviet story. When it became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991, Kazakhstan inherited a batch of nuclear weapons. Rather than selling them, abandoning them or hoarding them, Kazakhstan turned the nuclear weapons over to the US to be deposed of safely, winning plaudits around the world.
Since then, eager to win the Nobel Peace Prize, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has promoted Kazakhstan as a leader in nuclear-disarmament.
Now it has struck a deal with the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the world’s nuclear watchdog, to host a bank of low grade enriched uranium.
Countries can apply for enriched uranium if projects have been approved for peaceful purposes.
The two year delay in setting up the nuclear bank is only a minor nuisance. It should still be a boon to Kazakhstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
DEC. 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said it had lent Kazakhstan’s flagship airline Air Astana $14m for the construction of an aircraft maintenance facility. The new facility will be built at Astana International Airport. Air Astana is the region’s biggest airline. Britain’s BAE Systems owns a 49% stake. Samruk-Kazyna owns 51%.
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(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)
JUNE 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, the national railway company, is building a new ferry terminal on the Caspian Sea, media reported.The terminal, at Kuryk south of Aktau, should be operational by December 2016 and highlights Kazakhstan’s drive to boost its trade across the Caspian Sea.
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
MAY 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan wants to increase its meat and poultry exports to neighbouring countries over the next three years, media reported quoting agriculture minister Asylzhan Mamytbekov. Mr Mamytbekob said that meat exports increased by 300% in 2014.
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
JUNE 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Defence minister from CSTO member states flew into Dushanbe for their annual meeting, set to begin on June 4. The Collective Security Treaty Organisation includes Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
JUNE 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Oil output at Tengizchevroil, Kazakhstan’s biggest oil producer, rose by 4.4% in Q1 compared to the same period in 2014, Reuters reported quoting its director-general Tim Miller. Chevron owns 50% of Tengizchevroil, ExxonMobil owns 25%, Kazmunaigas owns 20% and Lukoil owns 5%.
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
MAY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Asim Thabit Abdullah al- Khalaqi, a former inmate of the US’ Guantanamo Bay prison, died in Kazakhstan of kidney failure, media reported. The US released Mr Khalaqi, a Yemeni national who spent 11 years in Guantanamo Bay, six months ago with a handful of other inmates. They were resettled in Kazakhstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
