Tag Archives: oil

Kazakh oil and gas company wants to sell Kashagan stake

JUNE 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazmunaigaz, Kazakhstan’s state-owned oil and gas company, said it would sell half its stake in the Caspian Sea Kashagan oil field to Samruk-Kazyna, the Kazakh sovereign wealth fund.

This is a curious arrangement as Samruk-Kazyna actually owns Kazmunaigas. It may be a way for Kazmunaigas, which has been badly hit by the sharp drop in energy prices, to borrow cash cheaply.

According to a press release from the London Stock Exchange, Kazmunaigas is seeking the consent of the shareholders in the North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC) , the consortium which operates the Kashagan, to sell half of its 16.88% share to Samruk-Kazyna for approximately $4.7b.

“Samruk-Kazyna’s agreement to purchase the Kashagan Shares reflects the State’s strong support of KMG (Kazmunaigas), as a strategic national asset,” the statement said.

Part of the cash raised by the sale would be used to pay $2.2b Kazmunaigas owes in fees relating to its 2013 purchase of the Kashagan stake from US company ConocoPhillips.

Kazmunaigas said that the sale would come with an option to buy back the stake in Kashagan for the same price between 2016 and 2020.

NCOC declined to comment.

Kazmaunaigas had run up large debts, partly because of the oil price slump. Halyk Bank analyst Sabina Amangeldi said in a note last month that the company already has seven Eurobond issues outstanding worth a total of $8.8b.

She also noted that lower oil prices had knocked Kazmunaigas’ revenues by around a third and that profit had been wiped out.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)

Turkmenistan to boost oil and gas exports

JULY 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan’s oil and gas ministry said it wants to increase the amount of processed oil and gas products it exports. Turkmenistan has been trying to increase exports of both raw natural gas and processed products.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)

Kazakh oil and gas company to sell Romanian assets

JULY 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazmunaigas, the Kazakh state oil and gas company, is trying for a third time to sell off three companies it owns in Romania, media reported quoting the Kazakh finance ministry. Kazmunaigas wants to sell Rominserv Valves, a valve manufacturer, SA Palplast, a plastic pipe maker and Global Security Systems which provides security guards. All three are currently owned by Rompetrol, a Kazmunaigas subsidiary.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)

Congress investigates Azerbaijan trip

JUNE 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The US Congress said that its ethics committee was investigating whether SOCAR, the Azerbaijani state-owned energy company, paid for a 2013 trip to Baku for 10 congressmen and 32 staff members.

Congress’ rules ban foreign governments paying for overseas trips. All the Congressmen implicated in the investigation deny any wrong-doing and have said that they were unaware that SOCAR had paid for their trips to a conference in Baku.

The Houston Chronicle reported that the focus of the investigation are hundreds of thousands of dollars paid out by SOCAR to two Texas-based non-profit organisations which then paid for trips to Baku.

Azerbaijan’s lobbying techniques have attracted more and more criticism over the past few years.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

Kazakhstan’s GDP suffers high energy intensity

JUNE 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan is one of the least energy efficient countries in the world for generating economic growth, Tomasz Telma, regional director for Europe, Middle East and North Africa at the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, told Bnews.kz.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

Kazakh court fines Karachaganak

JUNE 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in west Kazakhstan handed the Karachaganak oil and gas project a fine of 7.3b tenge (roughly $40m) for excessive flaring, media reported quoting a court statement. Karachaganak’s shareholders are BG Group, Eni, Chevron, Lukoil and Kazmunaigas.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 236, published on June 18 2015)

Azerbaijan’s oil production dips slightly

JUNE 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Oil production in Azerbaijan fell slightly in the first five months of the year to 17.6m tonnes compared to 17.7m tonnes during the same period in 2014, an official at the national statistics agency told Reuters.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 236, published on June 18 2015)

India will reject Kazakh Abai stake

JUNE 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – India will reject a 25% stake in the Abai oil field in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea, Indian sources told the Economic Times newspaper. Kazakhstan had offered India the stake in the untapped field after it chose China over India as a shareholder in the Kashagan oil field in 2013.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 236, published on June 18 2015)

EBRD boosts spending in Kazakhstan

JUNE 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said lending to projects in Kazakhstan would hit a record $1b this year as the country diversifies away from oil, gas and other extractive minerals.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 235, published on June 11 2015)

Lukoil knocks price in Kazakhstan

JUNE 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia’s Lukoil will knock 10% off the price of assets in Kazakhstan it plans to sell to China’s Sinopec to ease the deal through, media reported quoting industry sources. The discount shows how oil and gas assets in Kazakhstan have lost value since oil prices fell sharply.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 235, published on June 11 2015)