Tag Archives: oil

Statoil reduces staff in Azerbaijan

SEPT. 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Norwegian oil and gas company, Statoil, is reducing its staff at its office in Azerbaijan, an anonymous employee was quoted as saying. “From 40 employees, the company now has around 10,” the source told the Azeri Press Agency. In 2014, Statoil sold its 15.5% share in the offshore gas field Shah Deniz and its pipeline assets to Malaysian Petronas.

ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on  Sept. 4 2015)

 

Petrol prices to rise in Turkmenistan

SEPT. 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Media in Kyrgyzstan quoted reports from north Turkmenistan which said long queues were forming at petrol stations after rumours emerged that prices were going to rise. Petrol prices have risen across Central Asia because of a sharp fall in the value of local currencies.

ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

Nostrum cuts offer for Kazakhstan-focused Tethys

AUG. 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – London-listed Nostrum Oil & Gas reduced its offer price for Tethys Petroleum by a third to 0.147 Canadian dollars per share. Nostrum revised its offer after a new due diligence report. Both companies have their main operations in Kazakhstan’s oil sector. Tethys is also listed on the London Stock Exchange.

ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on  Sept. 4 2015)

 

Petrol price controls cut in Kazakhstan

SEPT. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kazakh government said that it was abandoning price controls on petrol. Heavy fluctuations in currency and oil prices have put these price controls under pressure.

ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

Sinopoec and Lukoil complete Kazakh deal

AUG. 20/21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – China’s state-linked Sinopec agreed to buy the half of Kazakhstan-based Caspian Investments Resources (CIR) for $1.09b that it didn’t already own from Russia’s Lukoil, media reported. The price is lower than the $1.2b initially struck in 2014 and reflects the lower oil price. CIR used to be called Nelson Resources.

ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 245, published on Aug. 28 2015)

 

Kazakh Central Bank buys 10% stake in Kashagan oil project

JUNE 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kazakh Central Bank bought a 10% stake in Kazmunaigas from the country’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk Kazyna for 750b tenge ($4b), a move analysts said was designed to help the state- owned energy company pay off debts generated by a sharp fall in oil prices.

This is the second reorganisation of Kazmunaigas since June. It earlier announced the sale of half its 16.8% stake in the Kashagan oil project to Samruk-Kazyna for $4.7b.

Analysts at Halyk Bank, a Kazakh bank, said the latest move shifted debt once again from Kazmunaigas to Samruk Kazyna to the Central Bank.

“If the first transaction raised the net debt of Samruk-Kazyna, the second lowered Samruk- Kazyna’s net debt, and the credit risk. By divesting of Kazmunaigas, Samruk-Kazyna reduced the most expensive part of its debt,” Halyk Finance senior analysts Sabit Khakimzhanov and Gulmariya Zhapakova said in a note to clients.

Delays at Kashagan and a sharp fall in oil prices have worsened Kazmunaigas’ financial affairs.

But, although unprecedented, the Central Bank’s purchase will change little in Kazakhstan’s oil sector. The two transactions may have helped Kazmunaigas achieve a better financial position in the short term, but both moves are temporary.

ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 242, published on Aug. 7 2015)

Azerbaijani oil exports to Russia re-start

JULY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – SOCAR, the Azerbaijani state- owned oil and gas company, resumed oil exports to Russia after a break of several weeks, Rovnag Abdullayev, the SOCAR chairman, was quoted by media as saying. No reason was given on why exports were resumed.

ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

Azerbaijan’s oil exports fall

JULY 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s oil exports fell by 2.5% in the first half of 2015 because of a drop in production, Reuters reported quoting a source in the state statistics committee. Oil and gas exports make up 75% of government revenue.

ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 240, published on July 16 2015)

Kazakh government pressures oil company

JULY 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Max Petroleum, a London-listed oil company operating in Kazakhstan said that it was operating under severe financial stress because of a back-tax bill imposed by the Kazakh government. Earlier this year, Max Petroleum said the drop in oil prices was pressuring its finances.

ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)

Azerbaijan pumps more oil to Russia

JULY 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan pumped 675, 000 tonnes of oil to Russia in the first half of 2015, up from 508,000 tonnes in 2014, media reported quoting state energy company SOCAR. Azerbaijan had planned to halt oil shipments through the Baku- Novorossiisk pipeline to Russia but instead, seemingly as relations with Russia have improved, increased exports.

ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)