Author Archives: admin

Kazakh government wins case v Mongolia

FEB. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kazakh government defeated a law suit filed against it by Erdenet Mining, a Mongolian company, in a London commercial court over the bankruptcy of a mining company in the 1990s. Although Balkhashmys, the mining company, was private, the Mongolian company still said Kazakhstan had responsibility for its losses. The court in London said that it had no jurisdiction over the case and threw out the Mongolian claims.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 266, published on Feb. 5 2016)

Sumatec delays start of operations at Kazakhstan’s Buzachi field

FEB. 2 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Malaysian oil company Sumatec said that it hadn’t yet started operations at its Buzachi field in the Mangistau region, western Kazakhstan, that it bought last year for $290m from Borneo Energy. It has delayed a $105m payment to different creditors until Buzachi starts production.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 266, published on Feb. 5 2016)

Kcell revenues fall 10% as economic downturn bites Kazakhstan

ALMATY, JAN. 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Revenues at Kazakh telecoms company Kcell fell for the first time in six years in 2015, evidence that worsening financial conditions are hitting all sectors of Kazakhstan’s economy.

Last year Kcell revenues dropped 10% to 168b tenge ($448m), the company said at its full year results. In US dollar terms, however, the comparison looks worse. In 2014, revenues stood at 187.6b tenge or $1.01b at the time. This means that revenues dropped 56% in US dollar terms. The Kazakh tenge lost half its value against the US dollar in 2015.

The management at Kcell blamed the downturn on low oil prices, the sharp depreciation of the tenge and a tough market.

“We experienced a tough operating environment in 2015, with the devaluation of the tenge, oil price weakness and a Kazakh telecoms market characterised by intensive competition,” Arti Ots, Kcell’s CEO said in a statement.

Tellingly, though, Kcell’s subscriber numbers fell by 7.5% and the average spend per consumer dropped by 8.7% in 2015 highlighting competition and creeping conservatism by consumers. Overall operating profit was down by 30%.

There is fierce competition in Kazakhstan’s saturated mobile market, an issue that Askar Akhmedov, a telecoms analyst at Halyk Finance, raised.

“The price war between Kazakhstan’s mobile operators appears to be intensifying,” he said in a note clients. Overall, he said that these results were worse than expected.

Swedish telecoms company TeliaSonera owns 61.9% in Kcell and in its sister company Activ.

Last year, TeliaSonera said it would sell stakes in companies across the South Caucasus and Central Asia after its Uzbek subsidiary became embroiled in a corruption scandal centred on payments made in 2008 to win a mobile phone licence.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 266, published on Feb. 5 2016)

Georgia investigates corruption allegations

FEB. 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s ministry of defence said it was investigating allegations that some Georgian soldiers on assignment in the Central African Republic were part of a rouge group of peacekeepers who abused children and raped women. The UN said it had opened an investigation after allegations were levied at peacekeepers. Georgia sent 150 soldiers on an EU-led mission to the Central African Republic between Feb. 2014 and March 2015.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 266, published on Feb. 5 2016)

Cliq says has sorted deal with oil field in Kazakhstan

FEB. 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Malaysian oil company Cliq Energy said it still hadn’t obtained permission to buy an oil field in Kazakhstan from the Malaysian authorities. The Securities Commission of Malaysia previously turned down Cliq’s request to go ahead with the deal. Last year, Cliq paid $110m for two blocks at the Karazhanbas North oil field. It needs to finalise the deal by a April 9 deadline.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 266, published on Feb. 5 2016)

Kazakhstan’s Kcell revenues fall

JAN. 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kcell, Kazakhstan’s biggest mobile operator, posted revenues down 10% because of a slowdown in consumer spending linked to the economic downturn.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 266, published on Feb. 5 2016)

Kazakhstan’s Air Astana sighs codeshares

FEB. 2 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s flagship airline, Air Astana signed several codeshare agreements with international carriers to boost its image and offer new products to customers. From March 11, Air France/KLM customers will be able to book an Air Astana-operated flight from Astana to Paris. In a separate deal, Hong Kong Airlines also signed a codeshare agreement with Air Astana on its Hong Kong – Almaty flights. Air Astana now holds eight international codeshare agreements.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 266, published on Feb. 5 2016)

EBRD funds power plant in Kazakhstan

JAN. 31 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The EBRD sent a $5.9m loan to Sagat Energy for the completion of a combined gas and heat electric power plant in Atyrau, western Kazakhstan. The plant will have a capacity of 11 MW.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 266, published on Feb. 5 2016)

Soldier pleads guilty in Armenia

JAN. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Valery Permyakov, a Russian conscript soldier, pleaded guilty to assaulting and killing a family of seven in the Armenian town of Gyumri last year. The murders triggered anti-Russia protests outside Russia’s military base, its biggest in the South Caucasus, and threatened to damage bilateral relations.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Technip quits Azerbaijan

JAN. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — French oil service company Technip Maritime Overseas quit Azerbaijan. It didn’t give an explanation about why it had quit Azerbaijan but the collapse in global oil prices could well be the root cause. The company, which has operated in Azerbaijan since 1993, maintains regional headquarters in Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. Last year it won a consulting contract with TAP, a gas pipeline that will bring gas from Azerbaijan to Italy.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)