Tag Archives: Kazakhstan

Kazakh President Nazarbayev flies to a hospital in Germany

JULY 20 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – A secret trip by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev to a hospital in Germany, reportedly for prostrate surgery, has unnerved investors.

Immediately after German tabloid newspaper Bild reported the news on July 18, the interest earned on holding Kazakh sovereign debt increased. This effectively meant investors believed that with Mr Nazarbayev in hospital taking on Kazakh debt meant taking on more risk.

After the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan became increasingly closed and instability stalked Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan but Mr Nazarbayev is credited with keeping Kazakhstan stable and opening it up to Western businesses.

His status was underlined last year when the Kazakh Parliament bestowed upon him the title of “Father of the Nation”. This year Mr Nazarbayev has won an election with 95% of the vote and said that he wants to rule until 2020.

For investors looking for stability, Mr Nazarbayev is generally good news. The problem is — what happens after the 71-year-old Nazarbayev leaves office? He doesn’t appear to have a firm succession plan.

The powers of his son-in-law Timur Kulibayev have grown this year but his ascendency to the top job is by no means guaranteed. Kazakhstan’s politics are a patchwork of competing clans and groups and other powerful figures such as PM Karim Massimov, Economy Minister Kairat Kelimbetov and Imangali Tasmagambetov, the mayor of Astana, have been touted as potential successors.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 49, published on July 20 2011)

Kazakh president reportedly has prostate surgery

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JULY 19 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, 71, has had secret prostate surgery in a hospital in Hamburg, German tabloid Bild reported. Nazarbayev is considered key to stability in Kazakhstan and the news spooked investors. Bild said Nazarbayev went into hospital on July 14 and left two days later. The President’s office just said he was on holiday.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 49, published on July 20 2011)

Sixteen die in prison breakout attempt in Kazakhstan

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JULY 12 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kazakh authorities said a group of 16 prisoners died in an explosion as they tried to break out of a jail on July 10 in the town of Balkhash in central Kazakhstan, media reported. In June 2010, 21 prisoners escaped from a maximum security prison in western Kazakhstan. Most were recaptured.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 48, published on July 12 2011)

Nine Kazakh gunmen killed in Aktobe shootout

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JULY 11 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police in west Kazakhstan killed nine gunmen alleged to have shot dead two policemen on June 30, local media said. Four police also died in the operation. The authorities denied media reports the gunmen were linked to militant Islam. In May, a suicide bomber with links to radical Islam attacked security forces in the nearby city of Aktobe.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 48, published on July 12 2011)

Pop star Sting sides with striking Kazakh oil workers

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JULY 5 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Workers’ rights, the energy business and rock music are mixing into a potent concoction in Kazakhstan.

British pop star Sting stepped into the row between striking oil workers and Kazakhstan’s business elite when he cancelled a concert in support of a six-week long strike. Sting’s concert had been planned for Astana on July 4 as part of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s birthday celebrations.

Cancelling it handed the oil workers a massive publicity coup and Nazarbayev a very public snub.

On his website Sting, former frontman of the 1970s/1980s rock band The Police, said: “Hunger strikes, imprisoned workers and tens of thousands on strike represents a virtual picket line which I have no intention of crossing.”

Perhaps Sting also had in mind the criticism he took last year after playing for the daughter of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, a man western human rights groups accuse of abuses.

The Kazakh strikers are mainly from Ozenmunaigas, a subsidiary of the state energy company Kazmunaigas in Kazakhstan’s energy producing western hinterland. They say they are not being paid enough. The authorities and Kazmunaigas have declared the strike illegal and arrested some of the workers’ leaders but they have failed to pressure them back to work.

Strikes in Kazakhstan are rare. This one though has already forced KMG EP, the London-listed arm of Kazmunaigas, to reduce its 2011 production forecast by 4% and looks set to rumble on.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 47, published on July 6 2011)

Kazakh entrepreneur Kulibayev named Gazprom director

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JUNE 30 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russian gas monopoly Gazprom appointed Timur Kulibayev, the favoured son-in-law of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, as one of its directors. Mr Kulibayev was appointed head of Kazakhstan’s $80b sovereign wealth fund earlier this year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 47, published on July 6 2011)

Kazakh gunmen kill two policemen near Aktobe

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JULY 1 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Gunmen shot dead two policemen in a village near the town of Aktobe in western Kazakhstan before fleeing, local media reported. The attack triggered a massive security operation which is still ongoing. In May, a suicide bomber attacked security forces in Aktobe. Analysts are worried about the rise of radical Islam in western Kazakhstan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 47, published on July 6 2011)

Kazakh Prosecutor asks for Aliyev

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JUNE 24 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kazakh Prosecutor-General has asked the Austrian authorities to extradite Rakhat Aliyev, President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s former son-in-law, media reported. Mr Aliyev has been living in Vienna since 2007. He is accused of involvement in the murder of two bank managers, allegations he denies.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 46, published on June 28 2011)

Oil strike hits production in Kazakhstan

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JUNE 28 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – The London-listed subsidiary of Kazakhstan’s state oil company, KMG EP, reduced its 2011 oil production target by 4% because of strikes in the west of the country. Hundreds of oil workers have been on strike for a month over pay.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 46, published on June 28 2011)

Karachaganak consortium to give Kazakhstan a stake

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JUNE 21 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – So, an end to the row over Kazakhstan’s participation in the Karachaganak gas field is in sight.

It isn’t official yet but sources at the St. Petersburg economic forum told news agencies the consortium operating Karachaganak had agreed to give a 5% stake to the Kazakh government while the Kazakh government had agreed to pay for another 5% stake.

A deal, perhaps, and an important one.

Karachaganak, in the north-west of the country on the border with Russia, is one of the biggest gas fields in the world. It also produces a fair amount of oil. It is important both for Kazakhstan’s economic development and for investors as a weather mast of government sentiment.

Over the last few years, Kazakhstan has argued it should be given stakes in major energy projects in the country and Karachaganak was the only one it still wasn’t involved with. The government said that when the original contracts were drawn up in the 1990s, it was in a weak negotiating position and the Western companies had taken advantage of that.

The partners in the Karachaganak project are currently — BG Group and Eni with a 32.5% stake each, Chevron with 20% and Lukoil with 15%. They have been negotiating with the Kazakh government over its entry since 2009 when tax claims started appearing against the consortium.

The row had even threatened to derail the project as the government had refused to sign off on the next phase of its development in May until it had been given a stake. With the end of the ownership argument in sight, Karachaganak and investors can all move on.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 45, published on June 21 2011)