Category Archives: Uncategorised

Ukraine looks for oil from Azerbaijan

SEPT. 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan may be about to play an unforeseen, but important, role in Ukraine’s civil war.

Virtually unnoticed by the media, Ukraine’s coal and energy minister, Yuriy Proban, visited Baku for an unofficial meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart. He was, basically, asking for help from Azerbaijan.

Ukraine’s economy is a mess. It had been reliant on coal mining from the Donbass region but with the civil war centred on Donbass, it is now limping along.

It had also earned a substantial fee for being a transit country for oil and gas supplies from Russia to Europe. That too has dried up, meaning that it both has to generate cash from elsewhere and also buy in oil and petrol.

According to analysts, only about 20% of Ukraine’s refining capacity is currently in use.

And this where Azerbaijan, could in theory, come in.

Mr Probin said that he was in Baku partially to ask for Azerbaijan to halp make up the shortfall.

“We could quite quickly increase the processed amounts if Azerbaijan has the available resources,” Russian news agency ITAR-Tass quoted him as saying, referring to the volumes of refined oil produced in Ukraine.

For Azerbaijan, there are two main issues to consider before potentially increasing supplies to Ukraine. Firstly, how to get any oil shipments there, possibly via Georgia’s Black Sea port of Batumi, and secondly how would Russia react? Azerbaijan-Russia relations are already strained. Supplying Ukraine with oil, may strain them further.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)

Kyrgyzstan builds biometric database

SEPT. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s efforts to introduce biometric data are gaining momentum.

From 2015 many of the world’s most developed countries will not admit holders of non-biometric passports into their territories. It is highly unlikely that Kyrgyzstan will meet that deadline, officials say, but frequent travellers will be able to get theirs early.

Building a biometric database would also help Kyrgyzstan combat terrorism; drug and human trafficking.

But not everyone is keen on empowering the police. Dinara Oshurahunova, head of the Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society, an NGO that promotes citizens’ rights said that the police would use the data to blackmail ordinary people.

“Biometric data is undoubtedly necessary but considering our law enforcement structures are unreformed and almost completely criminalised, I would not want them to have access to this data,” she said.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)

Iran reduces Turkmen gas imports

SEPT. 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Highlighting its break from Turkmen gas imports, Iran opened what it said was the largest liquefied natural gas storage depot in the world in the north of the country. Iran has said that it wants to reduce expensive gas imports from Turkmenistan, which has propelled itself into the top tier of world gas producers.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)

Kyrgyz gold mine attacked

SEPT. 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – An armed group attacked a Chinese- run gold mine in northern Kyrgyzstan shooting a security guard and making off with 5kg of gold, media reported. The attack highlights still weak security across swathes of the country. Gold mines are a particular target.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)

Greece bans denial of Armenia genocide

SEPT. 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Greece’s parliament ratified a bill that banned denial of an alleged genocide by Turkish Ottoman forces on Armenians a century ago.

This elevates recognition of the alleged genocide to a crime to denying it.

The vote, which was close, is a success for Armenian lobbyists who have been campaigning across the world for countries to recognise their plight from Turkey towards the end of the First World War as genocide.

Turkey has always denied the charge and instead said Armenians were killed in the chaotic aftermath of the War.

Greece and Armenia are natural allies against Turkey. Both sides have their animosities with their bigger, more powerful neighbour and it is probably unsurprising that Greece has joined a small group in making denial of the so-called Armenian genocide a crime.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)

Azerbaijani security forces raid NGO

SEPT. 6 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – IREX, the education NGO, said Azerbaijani security forces raided its office in Baku, confiscating documents and computers. Civil society groups in Azerbaijan are under pressure. The US-funded NDI closed its office in July and Transparency International has said that its bank accounts are frozen.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)

Kazakhstan-Iran rail link opening

SEPT. 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran railway link will be opened shortly, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev was quoted by media as saying. The rail link between Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan and Iran has been touted as a major advance for trade between Iran and Central Asia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)

Kazakhstan and Russia to sign military deal

SEPT. 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russian president Vladimir Putin and Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev are expected to sign a deal soon that will allow the movement of arms between the two countries more easily, media reported. The agreement is designed to increase arms trade between Kazakhstan and Russia as well as deepen military integration.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)

Oil output to stop falling in Azerbaijani energy company

SEPT. 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a thinly veiled warning to the BP-led ACG oilfields, Rovnag Abdullayev, head of Azerbaijani energy company SOCAR, said he expected its output to hit 30m tonnes this year and next year. ACG is key to Azerbaijan’s oil wealth but output has been falling.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)

Kazakhstan readies Eurobond

SEPT. 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan has hired Citi, JP Morgan and HSBC to arrange a potential new Eurobond, Reuters quoted sources close to the deal as saying. The sources told Reuters the Eurobond was due to be denominated in US dollars but didn’t put a value on it.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)