Category Archives: Uncategorised

Turkmenistan wants to stop river from freezing

MARCH 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — In an echo of the Soviet Union’s efforts to control nature, Turkmenistan’s president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov wants to stop the Amu Darya river freezing over.

According to reports last month, the Turkmen minister for water resources has compiled a report for Mr Berdymukhamedov on how best to stop the mighty Amu Darya, which runs from the Pamir Mountains in Tajikistan through Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan before fading into the desert just short of the Aral Sea, freezing.

The plan has not been revealed.

The Amu Darya river is particularly important to Turkmenistan as it not only supplies 90% of the country’s drinking water but it also irrigates many of its cotton fields.

Reports of a plan to bend Nature to Man’s will smacks of the Soviet Union. It diverted much water from the Amu Dayra and its sister river the Syr Darya river to irrigate the cotton fields. Its plan was to transform the region into a bread and cotton basket.

It managed this, to an extent, but, in the process, also dried out the Aral Sea.

Now the Amu Darya and Syru Darya rivers are a source of regional tension. They provide downstream Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan with drinking water and irrigation and upstream Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan with power.

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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)

Azerbaijan cuts oil exports

MARCH 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan cut its oil exports by 6.5% in January and February to 3.73m tonnes compared to a year ago, Reuters quoted a source at Azerbaijani energy company SOCAR as saying. The source said that declining output was behind the drop in exports. Azerbaijan has been trying to stem a general decline in oil production.

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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)

Turkmenistan implements new corruption law

MARCH 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan was due to implement a new law that combats corruption. The law, passed last week by Turkmenistan’s parliament, makes it illegal for civil servants to open foreign bank accounts. Corruption is considered rife in Turkmenistan.

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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)

Kazakh government fines oil company

FEB. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The ecology department in the Mangistau regional government issued Ozenmunaigas, a subsidiary of Kazakh state-owned energy company Kazmunaigas, a fine of $1.8b for environmental damage. Ozenmunaigas refuted the claim. Environmental fines are sometimes used to pressure companies.

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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)

Top Kazakh politician gets demoted

MARCH 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Once considered a key kingmaker, Aslan Musin appears to have completed his fall from power after he was appointed Kazakhstan’s ambassador in Croatia, a fringe outpost in the Kazakh diplomatic service. Mr Musin had been head of the presidential administration for four years until being demoted in 2012.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)

Azerbaijan prepares Eurobond issue

MARCH 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan started preparations for its Eurobond debut despite a downturn in emerging market debt. Azerbaijan is cash rich and doesn’t really need to borrow market on the international market. Instead it may use the Eurobond for promoting the country and setting a benchmark for other debt issues.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)

Total sells stake in Azerbaijan’s gas project

FEB. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Looking to move out of projects in which it owns only a minority share, Total announced plans to sell its 10% stake in Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz oil field.

Botas, a Turkish pipeline company, confirmed that it is in talks to buy Total’s stake.

There will probably be others interested too. Azerbaijan is an attractive place for countries in the region which need to boost their energy supplies. Last year India’s state-owned ONGC Videsh bought a stake in Azerbaijan’s biggest oil field for $1b.

A Botas spokesman explained the attraction of buying into Shah Deniz. “The acquisition of a 10% stake from Total is commercially profitable,” he told Reuters.

Shah Deniz is the mainstay of Azerbaijan’s gas industry and is currently the subject of a $28b expansion. Some analysts said the cost of the expansion may have triggered Total’s sale plans.

Importantly, a purchase by Botas of Total’s stake would reduce Western Europe’s interest in a gas field which is critical to its long-term energy plans. Azerbaijan has increasingly turned to Turkey, its natural partner, to push through infrastructure and energy projects.

Total is the second major energy company to exit the Shah Deniz project in the Caspian Sea in the past couple of months.

In December, Norway’s Statoil cut its stake in Shah Deniz to 15.5% from 25.5%. Statoil sold this 10% stake for $1.45b to BP and Socar, Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company, indicating that Total may be able to fetch a similar price for its own stake.

(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)

Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan reopen border

MARCH4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have agreed to reopen border crossings closed since mid-January after a shootout between Kyrgyz and Tajik border guards, media reported. The re-opening of the border marks an important drop in tension between the two countries.

(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)

Consortium invests in Azerbaijan’s oilfield

FEB. 26 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — BP’s top executive in the Caucasus, Gordon Birrell, told Reuters the consortium exploiting the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) oil field in the Caspian Sea would invest $2b into the project this year. Azerbaijan has put the BP-led consortium under pressure to stem a decline in oil production at ACG. ACG is the biggest oil field in Azerbaijan.

(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)

Kyrgyzstan ranks last for mining business

MARCH 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Canada-based Fraser Institute has ranked Kyrgyzstan as the worst place to do business for mining companies in its annual report, media reported. Their assessment highlights the problems that Western gold mining companies have had in protecting their assets in Kyrgyzstan.

(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)