Category Archives: Uncategorised

Kazmunaigas to boost petrol market

SEPT. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazmunaigas Processing and Marketing (KMG P&M), a branch of the state-owned oil and gas company Kazmunaigas, said it wants to increase its brand’s share of the petrol retail market in Kazakhstan to around 33%. KMG P&M currently owns 324 petrol stations across the country representing 12% of the total. The company is selling 146 stations to private investors to reduce costs. The new owners will keep the Kazmunaigas brand. KMG P&M will then buy more stations to increase the number of petrol stations carrying its brand.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

Uzbek-Kyrgyz trade halves

SEPT. 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In Jan.-July 2015, trade turnover between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan halved to $78.4m compared to the same period in 2014, according to Kyrgyz customs data. The figure shows the impact of the economic downturn.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

US sends kit to Tajik forces

SEPT. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The US embassy in Dushanbe donated tactical military equipment worth $260,000 to the Tajik special security forces (OMON) to use against drug traffickers in the south of the country, local media reported. The donation is controversial because Tajikistan has previously used its special forces against government opponents.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

Trade turnover drops in Armenia

SEPT. 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Trade turnover in Armenia dropped by over 5% in the first eight months of the year compared to the same period in 2014, media reported quoting the country’s statistics office. Media also reported that consumer prices had risen by 4.8%. Both indicators show the pressure that the Armenian economy is under.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

Turkmenistan builds oil terminal

SEPT. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Construction work at a new oil terminal in Turkmenistan’s Lebap region, near the border with Afghanistan, is close to completion, the Ministry of Petroleum said. The terminal will have a capacity of 540,000 tonnes of oil and will boost Turkmen export options.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

Currency: Kazakh tenge, Kyrgyz som

SEPT. 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Last week’s decision by the US Federal Reserve Bank not to modify interest rates was welcomed across Central Asia and the South Caucasus, where currencies performed well.

The Kazakh tenge, the Georgian lari and the Kyrgyz som all recouped 2% against the dollar and a timid 1% improvement was also noted in Armenia and Azerbaijan. Markets are still weak, however. Had it not been for Central Bank interventions for millions of dollars in Kazakhstan ($620m in one week), Georgia and Kyrgyzstan (around $30m each), their currencies would have kept falling.

By the end of the week, the Kazakh tenge was trading up 2.5% against the US dollar at 264/$1, the Kyrgyz som was up 2% at 69/$1 and the Georgian lari was up 2.4% at 2.39/$1.

Also, and this is interesting, a study from researchers at the International Monetary Fund found that the lack of confidence in domestic currencies and ingrained behaviours have hindered any policy of de-dollarisation across Central Asia and the South Caucasus.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

OSCE/ODHIR pressures Azerbaijan

SEPT. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan has come under increased international pressure to allow more monitors from the OSCE’s ODHIR into the country to monitor a parliamentary election in November. The OSCE cancelled its monitoring mission because it said the authorities in Azerbaijan had permitted only half the requested monitors.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

Fire breaks out near Zhanaozen, Kazakhstan

SEPT. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A fire broke out at an oil pit outside Zhanaozen in western Kazakhstan. High winds spread the fire over a 5 square km area. Media said the fire injured 2 people.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

Armenia wants to boost electricity sales to Iran

SEPT. 23 2015, YEREVAN (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia wants to increase by four-fold electricity exports to Iran, a senior government official said, highlighting the important regional economic position that the Iranian government will hold once international sanctions are lifted, as expected, later this year or next.

At a policy meeting in Yerevan, Areg Galstyan, the Armenian deputy minister for energy and natural resources said a third electricity transmission line to Iran was being built that would increase exports.

“Now in a year we export 1.8b kilowatt hours of energy to Iran and the capacity can be increased to 6.9b. kWh per year,” he said at a press conference. “We hope that the construction of a third Armenia-Iran high voltage electricity transmission line will be finished in 2018.”

The growing trade and diplomatic relationship between Armenia and Iran has become increasingly important for the government in Yerevan. It is short of regional allies. Armenia and Azerbaijan are still officially at war over the disputed province of Nagorno-Karabakh and its ties with Turkey have been broken over allegations of a genocide 100 years ago, meaning that it has turned to Iran as partner.

And with Iran on the brink of being accepted back into the international community after a deal with the United States and others over its nuclear weapons programme, relation – trade, diplomatic and cultural – are set to grow.

Armenia sees itself as a growing regional electricity exporter. As well as increasing exports to Iran it also wants to increase them to Georgia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

Samsung suspends building work at essential Kazakh power plant

ALMATY, SEPT. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Korea-based Samsung Engineering said it was suspending construction work at a 1,320 megawatt coal-fired power plant near Lake Balkhash in Kazakhstan due to financing issues, throwing into doubt the feasibility of the $2.2b project that the Kazakh government has said is vital to meet growing demand for electricity.

Alluding to the impact of an economic downturn that has hit the economies and currencies of Central Asia, Samsung Engineering said it was worried that Kazakhstan couldn’t guarantee it would buy the power that the plant was due to generate.

“Samsung Engineering has been forced to temporarily halt the operation of the project because of an issue with the Kazakhstan government over the guaranteed purchase of the power to be produced from the project,” the company’s CEO Park Jung-heum told The Korea Times. He didn’t say when the project might resume.

The Kazakh government has not commented.

A consortium led by Samsung Engineering and Korean Electric Power Corp. won the project tender in 2009. The project was due to be completed in 2020 and would have supplied 9% of Kazakhstan’s total electricity demand.

The power plant was due to cost $2.2b to build. Korean Eximbank and Korea Trade Insurance Corp. pledged additional loans of around $3.5b.

In August, Samsung also said it was worried about the strength of Kazakhstan’s banking sector which is saddled with a large amount of bad debt, a legacy of the 2008/9 Global Financial Crisis.

Kazakhstan needs to increase its electricity generation capacity to power its export-oriented industrial sector and to feed its increasingly energy hungry population or face the prospect of black-outs. World Bank data showed that in 2014, Kazakhstan consumed around 88b kilowatt hours of electricity. In 2000, it consumed 48b kilowatt hours, figures that highlight the growth in demand.

Samsung’s decision to halt its big project at Balkhash is a serious setback for Kazakhstan’s energy plans.

It is also a litmus test for Kazakhstan’s ability to follow through with major infrastructure projects it planned during a period of high oil prices and steady export revenues.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)