Tag Archives: oil

Regional government appeases workers’ dispute in Kazakhstan

MARCH 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Acting as a peacemaker, the Aktobe regional government in north-west Kazakhstan stepped in to mediate in a labour dispute at an oil field operated by China’s state-run energy company CNPC.

The move highlights what appears to be Kazakhstan’s preferred policy when strikes are threatened — to appease labour unions rather than antagonise.

Kazakhstan is desperate to avoid a repeat of an oil workers’ strike in the western oil town of Zhanaozen in 2011 which ended in violence that killed at least 15 people.

Kazakh workers at CNPC AktobeMunaiGas say that they are treated unfairly, paid less and live in worse conditions compared to their Chinese counterparts.

This is a not a new complaint and, although China is a key energy client, Kazakhstan has pushed to improve worker conditions at Chinese companies. And this was no exception.

“The Commission recommended that managers improve the system of remuneration and create conditions for the production in accordance with labour laws,” the Aktobe government said in a statement.

Importantly sources in Aktobe said the threatened strike now appears to be on hold.

CNPC AktobeMunaiGas is one of Kazakhstan biggest oil producers, producing around 6m tonnes each year.

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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)

Kazakhstan increases oil export duty

MARCH 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan will increase export duty on oil by 33% to $80 per tonne from April 1 to boost budget revenues, economy minister Yerbolat Dossayev said. Kazakhstan may be using cash raised through the oil export tariff to bolster its economy after devaluing its currency by 20% in February.

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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)

Kazakhstan’s new oilfield gets fined

MARCH 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s government slapped a $735m fine on the consortium developing the Kashagan Caspian Sea oil field for environmental damage from burning off gas during repairs to a leak. The $50b Kashagan project sprung a gas leak in October, barely a month after production started.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)

Azerbaijan cuts oil exports

MARCH 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan cut its oil exports by 6.5% in January and February to 3.73m tonnes compared to a year ago, Reuters quoted a source at Azerbaijani energy company SOCAR as saying. The source said that declining output was behind the drop in exports. Azerbaijan has been trying to stem a general decline in oil production.

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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)

Kazakh government fines oil company

FEB. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The ecology department in the Mangistau regional government issued Ozenmunaigas, a subsidiary of Kazakh state-owned energy company Kazmunaigas, a fine of $1.8b for environmental damage. Ozenmunaigas refuted the claim. Environmental fines are sometimes used to pressure companies.

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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)

Consortium invests in Azerbaijan’s oilfield

FEB. 26 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — BP’s top executive in the Caucasus, Gordon Birrell, told Reuters the consortium exploiting the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) oil field in the Caspian Sea would invest $2b into the project this year. Azerbaijan has put the BP-led consortium under pressure to stem a decline in oil production at ACG. ACG is the biggest oil field in Azerbaijan.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)

Vietnam agrees to import Azerbaijan’s oil

MARCH 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Petrovietnam, Vietnam’s state-owned energy company, has agreed to buy 3.5m barrels of Azeri crude oil this year, it said in a statement. The deal is a significant success for Azerbaijan which is looking to extend its client base and its international standing.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)

Kazakhstan’s Kashagan to start in H2 2014

FEB. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan hopes that its long-delayed Caspian Sea oil field Kashagan will finally start producing oil in the second half of the year. Kazakh PM Serik Akhmetov said he hoped Kashagan, which cost $50b to build, would produce 3m tonnes of oil this year. A gas leak halted production last year.

(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)

Tajikistan plans new energy legislation

MARCH 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Lawmakers in Tajikistan’s lower house discussed the draft of a new law that investors hope will help them to do business in its emerging energy sector.

Tajikistan, dependent on fuel imports from Russia and unfriendly neighbour Uzbekistan, is desperate to unlock its own significant hydrocarbons potential. It hopes to both achieve energy security and earn much-needed revenue.

The problem is that the legislation appears unreformed and Byzantine even.

Although details of the law under discussion haven’t been released, it is understood that it is aimed at addressing these problems.

Russia’s Gazprom, Channel Islands-registered Tethys, France’s Total and China’s CNPC are all prospecting in Tajikistan, the latter trio joining forces to exploit the Bokhtar license area in the south-west of the republic which may hold over 3 trillion cubic metres of gas.

Neighbouring China will be the primary customer when — or perhaps at this stage that should still be an ‘if’ — Bokhtar starts gas production.

(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)

Turkmenistan boosts oil output

MARCH 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmennebit, the Turkmen state-owned energy company, plans to increase exploration in the Caspian Sea after hitting oil in a handful of test wells, media reported. Over the past decade Turkmenistan has turned itself into a regional energy powerhouse.

(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)