Tag Archives: pipelines

Turkey buys 10% of Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz

MAY 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkish Petroleum Corp., the state-owned Turkish oil energy company, agreed to buy an extra 10% stake in the Shah Deniz gas field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea from France’s Total for $1.5b.

This means that Turkish Petroleum now owns 19% of the Shah Deniz and is Azerbaijan’s second biggest partner in the project, behind BP.

The deal shifts the energy power vertical in the region as it reduces Turkey’s reliance on Russia for supplies while increasing its dependency on Azerbaijan.

Turkey is a NATO member and with the stand-off over Ukraine continuing, shifting energy reliance away from Russia is, undoubtedly, a sensible strategy. And who better to turn to than Azerbaijan? Turkey and Azerbaijan are ethnically, culturally, politically and linguistically close. They make natural allies.

For Azerbaijan the deal is an important one as Turkey’s entry into the Shah Deniz project is a massive show of faith in its prospects. It is being upgraded in an important second phase. Turkey is also a major stake holder in the TANAP pipeline that will pump gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe.

Azerbaijan-Turkey relations have always been close, although over the past few years these have grown even closer. Azerbaijan has now established itself as a major gas supplier to Europe and it is only natural that it works increasingly closely with Turkey to secure this sector.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 187, published on JUNE 4 2014)

Azerbaijan may reduce TANAP stake

JUNE 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan may reduce its 58% stake in the TANAP gas pipeline project that will run from the Caspian Sea to Europe, the chairman of SOCAR, Azerbaijan’s state energy company, Rovnag Abdullayev, said. TANAP is currently one of the world’s biggest pipeline projects.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 187, published on JUNE 4 2014)

Bangladesh wants Turkmen gas

MAY 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) -Bangladeshi officials travelled to Ashgabat to lobby their of the proposed Turkmen counterparts to accept them as part TAPI gas pipeline, media reported.

Their mission to Ashgabat underlines just how important Turkmenistan has become for the region’s energy supply chain.

TAPI is an ambitious project that could transform the energy balance in south Asia. The plan is simple and audacious. Pakistan and India both need more energy. Turkmenistan can supply it and TAPI will connect it to the market.

The difficulty is building a safe and reliable pipeline across Afghanistan.

Even though the plan is still only a potential, Bangladesh has said it also wants to sign up for it.

“We have conveyed our interest to join with TAPI as we are struggling to meet mounting natural gas demands with local production,” Petrobangla, Bangladesh’s state-owned energy company, chairman Hussain Monsur was quoted by Platts as saying.
Adding Bangladesh to the list of countries participating TAPI will add more weight and validity to it.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 187, published on JUNE 4 2014)

Georgia gas pipeline restarts

MAY 23 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) -Georgia has resumed supplying gas to Armenia through its north-south pipeline after a rock fall earlier this month damaged it, Gazprom- Armenia said. The pipeline from Russia through Georgia is the main supply route to Armenia. Rock falls, though, are a problem and can trigger shortages each year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)

Azerbaijani Shah Deniz II consortium hands out major pipeline contract

MAY 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The consortium of companies developing the second phase of the Shah Deniz gas field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea handed out another major contract.

This time it was a $735m contract to build two sections of a pipeline that will pump gas to Europe. This is an important project both for Azerbaijan and for Europe which is looking to reduce its dependency on Russia for energy.

A joint bid by Azeri firm Azfen and Amsterdam-based Saipem Contracting Netherlands BV won the contract to build a 428km pipeline between Azerbaijan and Georgia and a second 59km pipeline in Georgia.

Earlier this year the BP-led consortium developing Shah Deniz II, as the second phase of the development is known, handed out contracts worth billions of dollars, including also to Saipem, an Italian oil and gas services company.

And there promises to be plenty more multi-million- dollar contracts. Shah Deniz II is one of the biggest infrastructure projects in the world. Its entire cost is estimated at $28b.

Reuters quoted Gordon Birrell, BP’s president for the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey region as saying that the development of the South Caucasus Pipeline Expansion was on schedule.

Most of the contracts are due for completion by 2017, with first gas scheduled for a year later.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)

PM unveils plan for new Black Sea port in Georgia

May 14 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia will start building a deep water port on its Black Sea coast to cope with an expected surge in cargo being transported across the South Caucasus and on to Europe.

Georgian PM Irakli Garibshvili appeared to slip in news of the planned construction, almost casually, during comments he made at a Georgia-France business forum.

“We expect that Georgia’s demand for transport and logistics will increase,” the Trend news agency quoted Mr Garibashvili as saying.

“Therefore, we have decided to construct a deep-sea port in the Black Sea (Anaklia), to better serve the rapidly growing business in transportation and warehousing sectors.”

There has been something of an infrastructure boom across the South Caucasus.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline pumps oil from the Caspian Sea to Turkey, generating revenue for the transit countries and plans for more pipelines will also push up earnings.

What Mr Garibashvili was talking about though is physical cargo transported from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea. Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey have combined to modernise the co-called Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway. This is predominantly a trade route used to transit goods. Although it doesn’t finish in Anaklia it will still benefit the port town just north of Poti.

Increased trade across the South Caucasus is set to give Georgian industry a much needed boost.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)

Kashagan to replace all pipelines in Kazakhstan

May 15 2014 (The Conway Bulletin)- The consortium of companies developing the giant Kashagan oil field in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea will have to replace the entire pipeline system, Kazakhstan’s oil and gas minister Uzakbai Karabalin said. The massive rebuild may delay the re-start of Kashagan beyond 2015.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)

Gas supplies cut to Armenia

May 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A landslide in Georgia damaged a pipeline, temporarily cutting off gas supplies to Armenia, media reported. It’s unclear how serious the damage caused by the landslide is or when gas supplies through the pipeline will resume. Gazprom Armenia said it had enough reserves to cover the shortfall from the pipeline

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)

Tajikistan hosts energy talks with Turkmenistan

MAY 6 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon hosted talks with his Turkmen counterpart President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov for the first time in four years. Various deals and documents were signed by both sides, including the start of work on a new gas pipeline.

(News report from Issue No. 183, published on May 7 2014)

EU could extend Azerbaijani pipelines

APRIL 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The European Union is considering extending the proposed TANAP-TAP gas pipeline from Azerbaijan from its current endpoint in Italy to France and Spain, the Russian newspaper Vedomosti reported quoting a European Commission official. TANAP-TAP is supposed to be completed by 2019.

(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)