Category Archives: Uncategorised

Europe wants gas from Turkmenistan by 2019

MAY 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The European Union wants to take gas deliveries from Turkmenistan from 2019, part of a determined drive to use Central Asia to weaken Russia’s grip over its energy supplies.

On a trip to Ashgabat, Maros Sefcovic, a European Commission vice-president and its top energy official, said gas could be sent to Europe from Turkmenistan either through a proposed pipeline that runs along the Caspian Sea floor or via Iran and then through neighbouring Turkey.

“Europe expects supplies of Turkmen gas to begin by 2019,” he said after meeting Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.

For years Europe and Turkmenistan have discussed the tantalising potential of Turkmen gas reaching European households, but Mr Sefcovic’s trip to Ashgabat and subsequent statement is the strongest indication yet that what once appeared rather fanciful could actually materialise.

And it would be a game changer for Europe and Turkmenistan.

Europe is desperate to reduce Russia’s grip over its gas supplies, especially since the eruption of war in east Ukraine and the souring of relations with the Kremlin.

Turkmenistan, which holds the world’s fourth largest gas reserves and has been maturing its production process, is eager for more clients.

Currently China buys most of Turkmenistan’s gas. Europe, though, would be another large, stable client and it would propel Turkmenistan into the top division of global gas suppliers.

On his trip to Ashgabat, Mr Sefcovic also met with energy ministers from Azerbaijan and Turkey. The EU needs their support to pump Turkmen gas.

The stakes are high for both Europe and Turkmenistan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)

ABD and Azerbaijan invest in power grid

MAY 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Azerbaijan have signed a Memorandum of Understanding worth $1b to modernise the country’s power distribution network, media reported. The ADB will give three tranches of $250m, totalling $750m, and Azerbaijan will provide the final $250m.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)

Uzbek power price rise

MAY 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan has increased the price of electricity it charges its citizens by 7.4%, media reported, the second price rise in the last six months. Prices for basic utilities in Uzbekistan have been rising steadily.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)

Georgia-Armenia relations sour over S.Ossetian visit

MAY 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Relations between Georgia and Armenia threatened to sour after the speaker of the Armenian parliament, Galust Sahakyan, met a delegation from the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia in Nagorno- Karabakh.

Initially, Mr Sahakyan’s meeting with South Ossetian official Anatoly Bibilov, who was in Nagrono-Karabakh to monitor local elections, appeared to suggest some degree of official Armenian support for the rebel government. Tbilisi was incensed.

Georgia and Russia fought a brief war in 2008 over South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Russia and a handful of crony states which want to curry support from the Kremlin — think Pacific Island states looking for aid handouts — have recognised their independence although Georgia still says it wants to reclaim the regions.

Georgia’s government called in Armenia’s ambassador to Tbilisi to explain Mr Sahakyan’s actions and later Georgian PM Irakli Garibashvili spoke to Armenian PM Hovik Abrahamyan to avoid a diplomatic incident.

An Armenian government spokesman later said: “The meeting between Galust Sahakyan and Anatoly Bibilov was purely of private nature. No official issues were discussed whatsoever. A meeting between private individuals has nothing to do with political positions.”

The statement concluded by confirming Armenia’s support for Georgia’s claim over South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)

Kazakh energy company revenues drop

APRIL 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Revenue at Kazmunaigas EP, the London-listed unit of Kazakhstan’s state energy company, fell by 47% last year because of the collapse in oil prices, it said at its annual results. Importantly, too, salaries increased by 10% at Kazmunaigas after last year’s devaluation of the Kazakh tenge.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)

US gives military kit to Uzbekistan

APRIL 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The United States will give Uzbekistan boats and vehicles to counter the drugs trade, media reported quoting its embassy in Tashkent.

The extra military kit, worth $6.2m, will irritate human rights campaigners. They say that Uzbekistan is one of the world’s worst human rights abusers. The US says it has to deal with Uzbekistan because Realpolitik demands it.

The US is withdrawing its military kit from Afghanistan mainly through Uzbekistan.

It has already said that it will leave behind surplus kit that it deems non-lethal. These are vehicles, trucks, body armour and night vision goggles.

“The goal of this Project is to assist law enforcement agencies of the Republic of Uzbekistan to develop investigative leads for disrupting and dismantling major drug trafficking organisations involved in illicit trade of drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors,” the US embassy in Tashkent said on its website.

As well as hitting the drugs trade, the US may also be planning to quietly help Uzbekistan bolster its border defences against incursions from the Taliban.

Central Asian states have said that they are worried about the spread north of the Taliban once NATO quits Afghanistan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)

Azerbaijani senior diplomat dies

MAY 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Vafa Guluzade, a senior Azerbaijani diplomat, died aged 74 in Baku. He helped shape Azerbaijani foreign policy in the early 1990s after independence from the Soviet Union and was Azerbaijan’s chief negotiator with Armenia for a peace deal on Nagorno-Karabakh.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)

Kazakhstan to resume pumping oil in Caspian Sea

APRIL 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Vladimir Shkolnik, Kazakhstan’s energy minister, said the Caspian Sea oil project Kashagan would resume pumping oil in December 2016. This estimation is a few weeks earlier than Western energy companies linked to the project have suggested. Oil from Kashagan was suspended in 2013.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)

Dominoes Pizza opens in Georgian capital

APRIL 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Dominoes Pizza, arguably the most recognisable pizza brand in the world, opened its first store in Tbilisi on April 26, the company said in a statement. US fast food chains have been piling into Georgia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)

Petronas completes Statoil deal in Azerbaijan

APRIL 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Malaysia’s state energy company Petronas completed the $2.25b buyout of the Statoil’s assets in Azerbaijan, making it one of the biggest players on the Azerbaijani oil and gas scene.

The deal included a 15.5% stake in the Shah Deniz gas project, a 15.5% stake in the South Caucasus Pipeline Company and a 12.4% stake in the Azerbaijan Gas Supply Company.

Importantly, too, Azerbaijan’s state oil and gas company SOCAR took over operational control of the South Caucasus Pipeline Company which pumps gas from the Shah Deniz project, across Georgia to Turkey. From there it links up to the Turkish gas pipeline network.

Statoil surprised analysts last October when it agreed the deal. At the time it said that it wanted to reduce the proportion of investment in its portfolio in favour of higher value projects.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 230, published on May 6 2015)