OCT. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Replacing the pipes running from the Kashagan oil site in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea to the mainland could cost up to $3.6b, Reuters reported quoting an energy ministry document. Kashagan is already the world’s most expensive oil project. Production has been delayed because of leaky gas pipes.
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(News report from Issue No. 204, published on Oct. 15 2014)
OCT. 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan’s president Kurgbanguly Berdymukhamedov ended a meeting of the leaders of the countries that border the Caspian Sea by saying that it was their right to build a pipeline across the inland water, media reported.
The meeting — which included the leaders of Russia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Iran and Azerbaijan — broke up without any major deals although they did agree not to allow NATO forces into the region.
Perhaps the most important single element of the meeting, though, were reports from Astrakhan, the venue in Russia for the meeting, that appeared to push the possibility of a sub-Caspian Sea gas pipeline nearer.
This has been touted before but has never been put into action. The cost has previously been considered too great but now, with demand for energy increasing from Europe, it may make business sense to build the pipeline.
There is also the extra added consideration that most of the infrastructure needed to pump the gas on from Azerbaijan to Europe has already been built or is scheduled to be built soon.
This week Azerbaijan’s president welcomed the deputy PM of Turkmenistan to Baku. Last week the head of Azerbaijan’s energy company SOCAR was in Ashgabat. There may be some reason behind all this activity. One to watch.
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(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)
SEPT. 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Spanish natural gas provider Enagas bought a 16% stake in the TAP pipeline that will pump gas from the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea to central Europe.
The purchase of the shares, a 10% stake from France’s Total and a 6% stake from Germany’s E.ON underline how important European countries consider the project to be.
Belgium’s Fluxys also increased its stake to 19%. The other shareholders in TAP are BP, Norway’s Statoil and Azerbaijani energy company SOCAR all with 20% of the project. Swiss energy company Axpo also owns 5% of TAP.
Reuters quoted Kjetil Tungland, TAP’s managing director.
“The TAP joint venture has always been open to new strategic partners,” he said.
“Enagas … will help to enhance TAP’s strategic position as a truly European project that will transport a new source of gas to the continent’s energy markets.”
The pipeline is scheduled for completion in 2018. European countries consider it an essential piece of infrastructure development to diversify their gas deliveries away from Russia, through which most of its gas was being delivered.
The plan is for TAP to run 870km from the Shah Deniz II field in the Caspian Sea to the Turkey-Greece border. There it will connected to another pipeline called TANAP which will pump the gas through the Balkans and across to Italy. From Italy the gas can be re-distributed across Europe.
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(News report from Issue No. 202, published on Oct. 1 2014)
SEPT. 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Spanish natural gas provider Enagas bought a 16% stake in the TAP pipeline that will pump gas from the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea to central Europe.
The purchase of the shares, a 10% stake from France’s Total and a 6% stake from Germany’s E.ON underline how important European countries consider the project to be.
Belgium’s Fluxys also increased its stake to 19%. The other shareholders in TAP are BP, Norway’s Statoil and Azerbaijani energy company SOCAR all with 20% of the project. Swiss energy company Axpo also owns 5% of TAP.
Reuters quoted Kjetil Tungland, TAP’s managing director.
“The TAP joint venture has always been open to new strategic partners,” he said.
“Enagas … will help to enhance TAP’s strategic position as a truly European project that will transport a new source of gas to the continent’s energy markets.”
The pipeline is scheduled for completion in 2018. European countries consider it an essential piece of infrastructure development to diversify their gas deliveries away from Russia, through which most of its gas was being delivered.
The plan is for TAP to run 870km from the Shah Deniz II field in the Caspian Sea to the Turkey-Greece border. There it will connected to another pipeline called TANAP which will pump the gas through the Balkans and across to Italy. From Italy the gas can be re-distributed across Europe.
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(News report from Issue No. 202, published on Oct. 1 2014)
SEPT. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan increased oil exports through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline by 70% in the first eight months of the year compared to the same period in 2013, media quoted the national statistics agency as saying. BTC pumps oil from the Caspian Sea to Turkey and then on to Europe.
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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)
AUG. 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The TAPI gas pipeline that is planned to run from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan and India is already influencing regional trade links. At a meeting in Ashgabat to discuss progress on the project, Pakistan and Turkmenistan also agreed to improve bilateral ties.
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(News report from Issue No. 195, published on Aug. 13 2014)
JUNE 14 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso visited Baku in a strong show of support for strengthening relations with Azerbaijan.
Mr Barroso pledged not only the EU’s full support for the Southern Corridor, an energy transit route from the Caspian Sea, but also support for a pact to further push Azerbaijan towards Europe.
Europe’s main motivation for the Southern Corridor — hinged around a gas pipeline linking the Caspian Sea to central Europe — is to reduce its reliance on Russia for its gas supplies. Azerbaijan’s motivation is to link directly to a major client.
But talk of another deal moves EU-Azerbaijan relations on to another level. Potentially, at least.
“We held a very successful meeting with President Ilham Aliyev, and made important decisions, one of which was to hasten the completion of a new agreement between Azerbaijan and the EU,” media quoted Mr Barroso as saying.
Russia is likely to look poorly on any move by Azerbaijan to integrate more closely with Europe. Just as with Ukraine and Georgia, Russia considers Azerbaijan to be part of its patch.
Three days after Mr Barroso’s visit to Baku, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov flew into town for bilateral talks. He is sure to make this point to the Azerbaijani leadership.
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(News report from Issue No. 189, published on June 18 2014)
JUNE 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s lower house of parliament ratified a deal that will increase the amount of Russian oil pumped through Kazakh pipelines to China to 10m tonnes per year from 7m tonnes per year. The deal highlights Kazakhstan’s role as a oil transporter, and not just a producer, to China.
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(News report from Issue No. 189, published on June 18 2014)
JUNE 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Replacing two corroding 90km-long gas pipelines at the Kashagan oil field in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea will cost “several billion dollars” and delay the re-start of production until at least 2016, the Wall Street Journal reported quoting a person familiar with the project.
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(News report from Issue No. 188, published on JUNE 11 2014)
JUNE 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The third branch of a gas pipeline running from Turkmenistan, through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to China opened on May 31, media reported. Line C, as it is known, will double the pipeline’s capacity to 55b cubic metres of gas per year by 2015. Gas exports to China are vital to Central Asia’s economies.
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(News report from Issue No. 187, published on JUNE 4 2014)
