JUNE 21 2017 (The Bulletin) — Perhaps embracing the country’s new era of openness, Uzbekistan’s state-owned oil and gas company Uzbekneftegas plans to throw off its Soviet-style branding. The company, which runs the Uzbek energy sector, has said that it wants a new logo and a new slogan that can be translated into Uzbek, Russian and English.
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(News report from Issue No. 334, published on June 26 2017)
JUNE 21 2017 (The Bulletin) — ATR, a British oil field services company, said it had set up a new base new near Aktau after winning a series of projects. ATR, which merged with Centurion Group last year, said that the base would initially employ 12 people, although it aimed to double the size of it within 12 months. ATR rents out oil field services equipment. The Kazakh oil and gas sector is beginning to show signs of a recovery after a downturn since 2014 linked to a collapse in energy prices.
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(News report from Issue No. 334, published on June 26 2017)
JUNE 15 2017 (The Bulletin) — Tengizchevroil (TCO), Kazakhstan’s biggest oil producer, has cut its dividend payment this year to part- fund an expansion project, the CEO of Kazakhstan’s state-owned oil and gas company Kazmuniagas, Sauat Mynbayev, said. Mr Mynbayev also said that TCO would also borrow $20b to fund the $37b expansion project. The TCO expansion is considered a vital step in extending Kazakhstan’s oil production. It will increase production to 39m tonnes per year from 27m tonnes per year by 2022.
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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)
JUNE 16 2017 (The Bulletin) — Kazakh officials said that the cost of extending production at the Karachagank gas condensate field had halved. Murat Zhurebekov, chief executive of PSA LLC, a unit of state energy firm Kazmunaigas, said that the cost of boosting production at Karachagank had halved from an earlier estimate of $9b. He didn’t explain why this estimate had been reduced, although he did say that it was linked to low oil prices. Eni and Royal Dutch Shell each own 29.25% of Karachaganak. Kazmunaigas owns 10%, Chevron 18% and Lukoil 13.5%.
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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)
JUNE 5 2017 (The Bulletin) — Azerbaijan is eyeing up investing another $3b into an energy project in Turkey, SOCAR Turkey CEO Zaur Gahramanov said. Azerbaijan is already a major investor in Turkey, with an estimated $11b worth of projects. The main projects are the Star oil refinery near Izmir and the Petkim wind farm. This year SOCAR failed in its bid to buy a network of petrol station in Turkey from Austria’s OMV. Mr Gahramanov said SOCAR was considering building a network of petrol stations from scratch or potentially another wind farm.
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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)
MAY 31 2017 (The Bulletin) — BP expects to sign an extension to its production sharing agreement for the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil fields (ACG) in the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian Sea by the end of June, its regional head, Gary Jones, told media. ACG is Azerbaijan’s biggest oil field system. The current contract expires in 2024 and a new contract is expected to cover until 2050. The contract extension has been expected.
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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)
MAY 29 2017 (The Bulletin) — Tengizchevroil, Kazakhstan’s largest oil producer, briefly suspended production after a toxic substance was released at its plant. The company, owned by Chevron, ExxonMobil, Lukoil and Kazmunaigas, restarted operations a few hours later. It said that there had been no injuries or damage to equipment from the spill which is blamed on a powercut.
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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)
MAY 30 2017 (The Bulletin) — Analysts accused Kazakhstan of breaking a pledge made to OPEC that it would reduce its oil production in line with an agreed strategy. Data from the International Energy Agency in March showed Kazakh production rising by 40,000 barrels per day to 1.718m barrels per day, despite a pledged decrease. Analysts said that increased production at Kashagan triggered the increase.
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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)
MAY 20 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In yet another sign of improving Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan relations, the countries’ state-run energy companies pledged to jointly develop Caspian Sea oil and gas fields. It’s unclear if this deal has a practical bent to it or if it is designed simply to be an eye- catching bilateral deal.
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(News report from Issue No. 330, published on May 28 2017)
MAY 10 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — BP’s Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli oil field bloc in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea produced 581,000 barrels of oil per day in the first three months of the year, it said in a statement. This is a significant drop compared to the year before when output was recorded at 651,000 barrels per day. BP has been under pressure from the Azerbaijani authorities to boost production at SCG, the country’s main oil producers and the latest figures will likely irritate Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
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(News report from Issue No. 328, published on May 12 2017)
