JUNE 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – SOCAR, Azerbaijan’s state oil and gas company, said it wanted to invest $1.2b upgrading its oil refinery in Baku. Officials in Azerbaijan have been saying for several months that they want to increase their capacity for producing high-grade oil-products.
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(News report from Issue No. 235, published on June 11 2015)
JUNE 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kashagan, Kazakhstan’s trouble- some Caspian Sea oil field, will start pumping oil by mid-2016 and hit an output of 370,000 barrels per day by the end of 2017, media reported quoting an interview with Stephane de Mahieu, managing- director of the consortium developing the field.
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(News report from Issue No. 235, published on June 11 2015)
JUNE 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s oil shipments via the Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline increased 40% in the first five months of the year compared to the same period in 2014, media reported quoting the state energy company. The increased oil flow through Russia is scheduled.
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(News report from Issue No. 235, published on June 11 2015)
JUNE 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan is looking for foreign partners to invest in the $16.5b oil, gas and petrochemicals processing plant it plans to build near Baku, a senior executive at the plant told Reuters. Azerbaijan has delayed completing the plant because of a lack of funds.
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
JUNE 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Seemingly undeterred by the fall in global oil prices over the past 12 months, Kazakhstan announced a new project to explore the Caspian Sea for more oil and gas deposits that it may be able to tap into.
Vladimir Shkolnik, Kazakhstan’s energy minister was talking to the Kazakh parliament when he made the announcement.
“Based on studies by international experts, the Caspian Depression is estimated to hold giant hydrocarbon reserves of some 60 billion tonnes of oil. This is why we are starting to implement the Eurasia project with the use of innovative geological technologies,” he said.
“Five of the world’s leading oil and gas companies have displayed interest in this project and we are now forming a consortium.”
If, though, Mr Shkolnik was high on grand gestures, he was weaker on the detail.
Mr Shkolnik may have said that five international companies were looking at joining the Kazakh government in a consortium, but he didn’t say which ones. Currently, with oil prices hovering per barrel, down from around $100 in the summer, exploring the Caspian Sea may not be an enticing prospect.
And there is also the small matter of Kashagan too. Kazakhstan and its partners have poured billions of dollars into this Caspian Sea oil field and yet it is still to produce significant quantities of oil.
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
JUNE 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Oil output at Tengizchevroil, Kazakhstan’s biggest oil producer, rose by 4.4% in Q1 compared to the same period in 2014, Reuters reported quoting its director-general Tim Miller. Chevron owns 50% of Tengizchevroil, ExxonMobil owns 25%, Kazmunaigas owns 20% and Lukoil owns 5%.
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
JUNE 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan’s energy ministry pledged to help Iraq explore for more oil.
The joint agreement was important because it underlined Azerbaijan’s determination to play a greater role in regional affairs. Iraq has been looking for partners to explore for more oil deposits and, although this agreement doesn’t actually put an exploration phase in motion, it does lay important groundwork for one.
Natig Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s energy minister, said: “We’re talking about investing in Iraq. We plan to choose there one of the projects, that is, an oilfield, and will work on it. In turn, Iraqi companies have been invited to participate in projects in Azerbaijan. I’m sure this collaboration will be productive.”
Azerbaijan has assumed an increasingly important role in the region.
Azerbaijan has hosted Afghan government delegations and promised to play a role in developing government institutions there, Israel considers Azerbaijan to be a regional ally and Baku has also rebuilt relations with Tehran over the last couple of years.
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
MAY 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – BP suspended operations for 22 days at its West Azeri platform in the Caspian Sea for planned maintenance work. The Azerbaijani government has put BP under pressure to maintain oil output at its fields.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 14 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Outside the financial sector, SOCAR, Azerbaijan’s state energy company, is the largest company in Georgia, media reported quoting research from Ilia University in Tbilisi. SOCAR Petroleum Georgia is a SOCAR subsidiary. Its main business in Georgia is a network of petrol stations.
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(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
SUMQAYIT/Azerbaijan, MAY 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Absheron, the narrow peninsula surrounding Azerbaijan’s capital Baku, gives a remarkable insight into the country’s patchy oil-funded growth.
Dystopian industrial decay, dirty villages of crumbling homes and bleak oil fields of rusty drills share the same few dusty square miles with newly built sumptuous seaside resorts, whitewashed villas and long stretches of crowded beaches dotted with flashy restaurants and garish wedding palaces.
The coexistence of opposites is arguably not a harmonic one. Embarrassed by the deteriorating state of Absheron’s infrastructure and the dire living conditions of much of its population Azerbaijan’s political elite seems to have opted for the creation of a Potemkin-façade of disproportionate lavishness.
Along the modern highway connecting Heydar Aliyev International Airport to the resort town of Buzovna high marble walls veil the view of surrounding shantytowns and oil spills.
Azerbaijan’s government indulges in creating unrepresentative showcases of the country, while the huge revenues of the oil and gas industry centred in and around Absheron, fail to filter down to the local inhabitants.
The uneven distribution of both profits and investments is epitomised by the fate of Sumqayit, Absheron’s biggest town. A thriving industrial centre during Soviet times, this northern shore town of concrete blocks and wide alleys now feels abandoned.
Resentment towards the government is high in Sumqayit and the town has become a breeding ground for religious extremism. Last year there were reports that Sumqayit had become a hotbed for Syria-bound would-be jihadists and a string of arrests and search operations were carried around town.
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(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
