Tag Archives: oil

Kazakh Kashagan field to reach commercial production next year

MARCH 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Halyk Bank effectively poured cold water over Kazakh officials’ forecasts that the giant Kashagan oil field in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea would meet commercial production of 75,000 barrels/day this year. Instead, Halyk Bank said that Kashagan would be operating effectively only by the end of 2017. Kashagan is vital for Kazakh oil output.

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(News report from Issue No. 273, published on March 25 2016)

Azerbaijan’s ACG oil output falls

MARCH 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – BP said it expects flat oil output this year from its Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) oil fields off the coast of Azerbaijan in the Caspian Sea. Last year, ACG produced 31.3m tonnes of oil, slightly down from 31.5m tonnes in 2014. BP also said it plans two rounds of maintenance later this year. ACG is the mainstay of Azerbaijan’s oil production. Its output has been falling.

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(News report from Issue No. 273, published on March 25 2016)

Sixth Energy buys stake in Kazakhstan-focused company

MARCH 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Canadian oil company Sixth Energy Ltd bought a 26.5% stake in Calgary- based Caspian Energy for $320,000. Sixth Energy now owns 60.6% of Caspian Energy, a company active in north-western Kazakhstan. Caspian Energy holds an exclusive licence to explore the North Block, near the Alibekmola, Zhanazhol and Kenkiyak oil fields.

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(News report from Issue No. 273, published on March 25 2016)

Kazakh company buys into Tethys

MARCH 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh energy company Olisol acquired control over additional shares of Guernsey-based Tethys Petroleum and is awaiting permission from the Toronto Stock Exchange to reach a 15.8% stake in the company. Under a facility agreement Olisol will also buy additional shares, bringing its ownership in Tethys to around 42%. Oilsol agreed a finance deal with Tethys earlier this year.

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(News report from Issue No. 273, published on March 25 2016)

Kazakhstan’s energy firm schedules Kashagan work

MARCH 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazmunaigas, Kazakhstan’s state- owned energy firm, said work at the Kashagan offshore oil field is on schedule and it expects the field to be ready for production by October 2016. Kazmunaigas’ CEO Sauat Mynbayev said he is still unsure about the volumes that Kashagan will produce in November-December 2016. The consortium developing Kashagan, which includes Kazmunaigas, Shell, Exxon, Total, Eni, Inpex and CNPC, has been replacing damaged pipes.

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(News report from Issue No. 272, published on March 18 2016)

Stock market: Roxi Petroleum, KAZ Minerals, Centerra

MARCH 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan-focused oil company Roxi Petroleum hit the headlines with a daily increase in its share price of over 10%, although the company did not publish updates regarding its operations at the BNG contract area in Western Kazakhstan.

Still rallying on positive results and an uptake in commodity prices, KAZ Minerals also fared well. The Motley Fool financial website said that, together with Glencore and Fresnillo, KAZ Minerals “could be a great long- term play on a mining sector recovery.”

Centerra Gold, a Kyrgyzstan-based Canadian miner, performed poorly again, and the company blames it on the uncertainty regarding negotiations the ownership structure with the Kyrgyz government.

“The uncertainty about renegotiating the future ownership profile of the Kumtor mine with the Kyrgyz government weighed heavily on the stock,” Mining Weekly quoted CEO Scott Perry as saying.

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(News report from Issue No. 272, published on March 18 2016)

Qatar oil meetings miss Kazakhstan

MARCH 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan has not been invited to a meeting in Qatar set for April 17 where major world oil suppliers are due to discuss freezing output levels at their current rates, energy minister Vladimir Shkolnik said. The apparent snub for the FSU’s second biggest oil producer underlines its role as an oil price taker rather than an oil price maker. Oil producing nations are trying to coordinate a response to drag oil prices off record lows.

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(News report from Issue No. 272, published on March 18 2016)

Zenith signs agreement with Azerbaijan’s SOCAR

MARCH 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A subsidiary of Canadian oil company Zenith Energy signed a production sharing agreement with Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company SOCAR to develop three onshore oil fields. Zenith Aran Oil and SOCAR had started negotiations last year. Zenith will have an 80% share in the Muradkhanli, Jafarli and Zardab fields for the next 25 years. SOCAR will retain the remaining 20%.

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(News report from Issue No. 272, published on March 18 2016)

Azerbaijan’s oil exports drop

MARCH 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan exported 5.2m tonnes of oil in January and February, down from 5.5m tonnes in the same period last year, official customs data reported. Azerbaijan is reliant on oil exports to fund its budget. The drop in oil prices has hit its economy hard, forcing the government to cut budgets. The problem for Azerbaijan is that a lot of its oil fields are aging.

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(News report from Issue No. 272, published on March 18 2016)

Directors of Tethys in Kazakhstan leave

MARCH 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – As planned after the announcement of the deal with Olisol, two executives at Guernsey-based Tethys Petroleum will step down. John Bell and Alexander Abramov will now be co-non-executive chairmen. Mr Bell and three other directors said they will not seek re-election at the next general meeting at the end of May.

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(News report from Issue No. 272, published on March 18 2016)