Tag Archives: business

Kazakh car sales fall

NOV. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — New car sales in Kazakhstan have fallen by 37.7% since the start of the year, media reported quoting the Kazakh Association of Autobusin- esses. Overall, retailers sold 84,560 cars in Kazakhstan up to the end of October. Renault is one of the few car brands that has increased sales this year. The data showed that its sales had risen by 12.5% in Kazakhstan. A fall in the value of oil and a drop in the value of the tenge currency have hit the economy and dented consumer confidence.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Azerbaijan Airline cuts routes

NOV. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan Airlines said that it had suspended flights between Baku and both Gabala and Ganja because they were unprofitable. The company said that there simply had not been enough passengers on the flights for them to be profitable.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Kumtor posts upbeat Q3 results, boosting Kyrgyzstan

NOV. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Canadian miner Centerra Gold said production and revenue at Kumtor, Kyrgyzstan’s largest gold mine, increased in the third quarter, countering continued low gold prices and giving the Kyrgyz economy a welcome boost.

Production grew to 3.2 tonnes of gold, up 9% from 2.9 tonnes in Q3 2014. This compared against relatively depressed gold prices meaning that Centerra’s revenues grew by 3%. Gold prices have fallen since the start of November by 6% to a six-year low of $34.37/gram.

In a statement on its website, Ian Atkinson, Centerra’s CEO, said: “Financially, the Company is in good shape with cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of $537m or

$461m, net of debt, at September 30, 2015.”

Importantly for Kyrgyzstan, Centerra’s tax contributions also rose. In the first nine months of 2015, Centerra paid $98.7m, a 20% increase compared to 2014.

Centerra is the largest taxpayer in Kyrgyzstan. Output at the Kumtor gold mine makes up 10% of GDP.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Condor hits dry well in Kazakhstan

NOV. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Toronto-based Condor Petroleum said in its third quarter results that it had had to abandon an exploration well it had drilled in the Zharkamys West field in western Kazakhstan after it was found to be dry. Condor suspended production in Kazakhstan earlier this year because oil prices were too low to turn a profit.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

KAZ Minerals invest in Kazakh copper

NOV. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — KAZ Minerals, the Kazakh copper producer, plans to build two hydro- metallurgical processing plants in Zhezkazgan, central Kazakhstan, to extract more copper from low value, media reported. The combined project will cost around $30m. KAZ Minerals is one of Kazakhstan’s most important companies and has been linked to the elite.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Wendy’s enters Georgian capital

NOV. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — US fast food company Wendy’s opened a new restaurant in central Tbilisi, the largest in the world. Spread over three floors, the restaurant is part of a new strategy by Wendy’s to develop a concentrated presence in a handful of countries rather than spread too thinly across several different countries. In Georgia, Wissol Group own the Wendy’s franchise.Fast-food brands have earmarked Georgia as a growth market.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Kazakhstan does not complain about Karachaganak

NOV. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan does not have a complaint against the Karachaganak Petroleum Operating (KPO), which operates the oil and gas field, and does not intend to levy a fine against it, energy minister Vladimir Shkolnik said. His intervention was intended to smack down a report by Bloomberg that the energy ministry was preparing a £2b fine against KPO.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Azerbaijan invites Iran to use trade links

NOV. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a potentially important move for regional trade links, Azerbaijan invited Iran to use its transport hub in the Kazakh port city of Aktau as a launch-pad to send its products across Central Asia. Iran is looking to bolster trade links across the region.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Business comment: The outlook for oil

NOV. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are having to brace themselves for a tough 2016. Oil prices are expected to stay low and output is likely to drop too.

Oil exports from Azerbaijan were down by 0.4% in Jan.-Oct. 2015 compared to last year, due to a decline in oil production, according to a source quoted by Reuters, a continuation of steady trend at its major oil field ACG.

BP is under pressure to stem the drop, and has said that it is on target to achieve this. Now an estimate from the US-based Energy

Information Administration appears to back this up. It said Azerbaijan is likely to maintain this year’s average of 870,000 barrels/day, or even more, in the first half of 2016.

But OPEC, a club of oil exporting countries that does not include Azerbaijan, disagrees.

It predicted oil output of 820,000 barrels/day for 2016, a 6% drop compared to 2015.

“Lower prices are likely to accelerate declines in Azerbaijan’s production in 2016 compared to 2015,” OPEC said in a report.

And Kazakhstan is also sending worrying signals.

Yerbolat Dossayev, minister of economy, said the government cut Kazakhstan’s oil output projection for 2015 by 1.5m tonnes to 79m tonnes, a 2.3% fall. OPEC agreed.

“With no new project startups lined up for next year, declining rates are likely to step up in 2016,” it said in its monthly report.

Analysts expect Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, which cannot influence oil prices, to produce and export at maximum capacity, while cutting down on investment. Earning hard currency from exports is top of the agenda for Central Asia and South Caucasus countries.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Pakistani PM visits Tajikistan

NOV. 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a trip that also took in neighbouring Uzbekistan, Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif visited Dushanbe for a meeting with Tajik president Emomali Rakhmon that would have focused on the CASA-1000 energy project. CASA-1000 aims to turn Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan into power exporters, sending electricity to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)