Category Archives: Uncategorised

Stock market: Nostrum Oil & Gas

APRIL 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Nostrum Oil & Gas has suffered a long period of sustained low oil prices, which has hit both its revenues and its stock price.

Nostrum’s revenues fell by a staggering 42% last year, accompanied in the downward trend by lower production volumes.

And, as shown in the graph, Nostrum’s share price has continued to fall, down 48.7% in Q1 2016.

Nostrum, however, remains confident about its long term objectives and pointed out in its full year results that it had cut costs and was investing in its processing capacity.

It made no mention of the failed takeover offer for Tethys Petroleum of last summer, which hit Nostrum’s share price, especially after Tethys started talks with Kazakhstan’s Olisol last November.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 274, published on April 1 2016)

Russia forgives Uzbekistan’s debt

MARCH 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Russian Duma ratified an inter- governmental agreement to pardon most of Uzbekistan’s debt. Uzbekistan will now pay $25m of its $889m debt to Russia but it will also withdraw any claims to the Soviet Diamond Fund which contains some of the world’s most expensive jewellery from the Tsarist era. Russia and Uzbekistan agreed to scrap the debt in November 2014.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 274, published on April 1 2016)

Azerbaijani court releases activist

MARCH 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Azerbaijan converted a seven-year prison sentence into a five-year conditional one for human rights lawyer Intigam Aliyev, allowing his immediate release. Mr Aliyev had already spent two years in prison. His release follows the release of 14 political prisoners earlier this month. The West has criticised Azerbaijan for its crack- down on free speech.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 274, published on April 1 2016)

Azerbaijani econ. data shows woes

MARCH 31 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Data on economic activity in Azerbaijan showed a sharp slowdown after the government abandoned the currency peg to the US dollar in December, a move that triggered a 30% drop in the value of the manat currency.

Azerbaijan imported markedly less wheat and cars, both good indicators of domestic demand.

In January, imports of wheat fell by 55.8% to 47.95m tonnes, as businesses found it increasingly more difficult to pay for their orders in foreign currency.

Total car imports in January and February this year were just 821 units, barely a tenth of the total during the same period in 2015.

Also, Azerbaijan’s State Statistics Committee said that the country had generated 6.4% less power in the first two months of the year compared to the same period last year. Thermal power production, Azerbaijan’s main source of electricity, was down nearly 8%, suggesting that demand from consumers and businesses had dropped — another indicator of the sharp economic downturn.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 274, published on April 1 2016)

Uzbek capital closes tram lines

MARCH 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The mayor of Uzbekistan’s capital, Rakhmonbek Usmonov, ordered officials to shut down tram lines across the city and sell most of the ageing trolley cars. The city administration had already started dismantling some of the lines. Almaty, in Kazakhstan, has also said it is phasing out its Soviet-era tram system.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 274, published on April 1 2016)

Turkmenistan Pres. orders massive military exercise

MARCH 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov ordered a massive military exercise to check the readiness of Turkmenistan’s army. The exercise involved land, aerial and naval forces. Recent skirmishes along the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan border may have prompted the decision to call a large-scale show of strength.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 274, published on April 1 2016)

Kazakh Pres. sacks energy minister

MARCH 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev sacked former energy minister Vladimir Shkolnik immediately after a parliamentary election. This was part of a government reshuffle that switched several top-bureaucrats in government and local administrations. Mr Shkolnik, the highest-profile government official to be sacked, was replaced by power sector veteran Kanat Bozumbayev.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 274, published on April 1 2016)

Kyrgyz CBank injects more som

MARCH 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kyrgyz Central Bank continues to buy US dollars in the currency market because demand for foreign currency is shrinking and, the Bank’s chief Tolkunbek Abdygulov told a press conference, people and businesses need improved som liquidity. The Central Bank bought around $62m in March.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 274, published on April 1 2016)

UAE detains ex-Kyrgyz President’s son-in-law

MARCH 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Authorities in Dubai detained Adil Toiganbayev, son-in-law of former Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev, who is wanted by Kyrgyzstan’s authorities for various crimes, including fraud, embezzlement, and tax evasion. Mr Toiganbayev’s alleged crimes are related to activities he conducted through his Aalam Services company before a revolution forced Mr Akayev to quit as president in 2005. Previously, Toiganbayev had been briefly detained in Moscow in 2014. It is still unclear if the UAE will collaborate with the Kyrgyz prosecutors.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 273, published on March 25 2016)

Iran wants more Turkmen gas

MARCH 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Iranian official said they wanted to increase gas imports from Turkmenistan to feed its northern region which doesn’t hold any gas reserves. “We import gas from Turkmenistan. It’s good for us because it means that we don’t need to get gas from [the] south to north- east Iran,” Ali Amirani, director at the National Iranian Gas Export Company, was quoted by Interfax Energy as saying. Gas relations between Iran and Turkmenistan are growing stronger and Iran is also mulling joint exploration activities in the border regions.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 273, published on March 25 2016)