Tag Archives: business

Kazakh paper manufacturer accuses former directors

OCT. 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Britain’s High Court decline an appeal by Maksat Arip and Baglan Zhunus, two former directors of Kazakh paper manufacturer Kagazy, against freezing their assets. Kagazy has accused Mr Arip and Mr Zhunus of misappropriating company funds in connection with Kagazy’s 2007 IPO in London and filed a $280m lawsuit. The trial will begin in April 2017.

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(News report from Issue No. 254, published on Oct. 30 2015)

Japan builds plant in Turkmenistan

OCT. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation will build a 400 megawatt gas-fired power plant in north Turkmenistan, a plant that will both increase electricity production and also extend the reach of the Turkmen power grid. The deal, worth $300m, was signed during Japanese PM Shinzo Abe’s visit to Turkmenistan.

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(News report from Issue No. 254, published on Oct. 30 2015)

Uzbekistan integrates cotton

OCT. 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan established a new state company for processing and export- ing cotton, one of its most important commodities. The main mission of Uzpakhtasanoatexport is to integrate the cotton sector.

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(News report from Issue No. 254, published on Oct. 30 2015)

Austria’s Poerner to build Azerbaijan’s capital bitumen plant

OCT. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan hired Austrian Poerner Group alongside Texas-based Fluor Corp. to build a bitumen plant, a deal poised to boost Azerbaijan’s output of petroleum products.

Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company SOCAR contracted Poerner to design the 400,000 tonnes/year plant, which Fluor Corp will build over the next decade.

Earlier this year, Azerbaijan said it wanted to modernise its oil, gas and petrochemicals processing plants near Baku. In March, Reuters quoted the US embassy in Azerbaijan saying the new complex will cost around $16.5b.

Neither Poerner nor Fluor have disclosed the value of their contracts with SOCAR, but their contribution will be important to boost Azerbaijan’s bitumen, or asphalt, production. Bitumen is a product of oil refining and an important commodity for the entire South Caucasus region. Bitumen’s main use is in road-building. Azerbaijan, as well as Armenia and Georgia, has committed itself to improving and expanding the country’s road network.

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(News report from Issue No. 254, published on Oct. 30 2015)

Problems at Kazakhstan’s Kcell weigh down TeliaSonera profit

OCT. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Swedish telecoms company Telia- Sonera said 2015 profit will be lower than expected due to price competition in Kazakhstan and that it is also struggling to sell its assets in Uzbekistan.

The profit warning will play badly for TeliaSonera which said last month that it wanted to sell its subsidiaries in Eurasia, of which Kcell and Ucell are the biggest.

In Jan.-Sept. 2015, Kcell’s profits fell 13% compared to the same period last year, a drop that Johan Dennelind, TeliaSonera’s CEO, blamed on competition and the government’s decision to let the tenge float free against the US dollar in August.

But Kazakhstan is not TeliaSon- era’s only problem in Central Asia. Marred by corruption allegations, TeliaSonera’s operations in

Uzbekistan have become a dead- weight, dragging the sale of the company’s assets.

“Selling Uzbekistan isn’t an easy task,” Mr Dennelind was quoted as saying in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

US and Dutch prosecutors are investigating whether TeliaSonera paid bribes to secure mobile licences in Uzbekistan in 2007 and 2008.

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(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

Korea-Uzbekistan JV complete giant gas processing plant

OCT. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uz-Kor Gas, a joint venture between South Korean and Uzbek companies, has finished building a $3.9b natural gas processing plant in Uzbekistan, a project that will improve commercial and diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Located in the Karakalpakstan region of north-western Uzbekistan, the Ustyurt Gas Chemical Complex will become the biggest petrochemical complex in Europe and Asia. Ustyurt includes a new gas field and a petrochemical plant. Its production will be mostly earmarked for the export market.

Companies from South Korea and Uzbekistan have been working on the project since 2006 through a joint- venture that includes Lotte Chemical, part of the Lotte Group, state-owned Korea Gas and Uzbekistan’s energy company Uzbekneftegaz.

Huh Soo-young, CEO of Lotte Chemical, said production would begin in 2016.

“From extracting liquefied natural gas in the upstream, to cracking and processing LNG into petrochemical products in the downstream, we have successfully built up a vertical integration system,” Mr Huh told the Korea Herald.

The plant will receive around 3.6mn tonnes of liquefied natural gas each year from a field in Surgil, around 100km away from the complex.

Lotte Chemical has predicted it will earn around 1tn won ($890mn) each year from the new project. Mr Huh said the complex would only be profitable as long as energy prices stay at current levels.

“As long as crude oil prices remain above $40, our petrochemical products based on low-cost ethane will remain competitive in the global market,” he said.

Uzbekistan and South Korea have been improving their commercial ties. In May, Uzbek president Islam Karimov used his visit foreign trip after winning re-election to travel to South Korea to close deals worth $7.7b.

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(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

KazTransOil liquidates Georgian subsidiary

OCT. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — After a lengthy legal spat, Kazakhstan’s oil pipeline company KazTransOil (KTO) liquidated Batumi Terminals Ltd, its subsidiary in Georgia. Earlier in March, a Georgian court seized Batumi Terminals’ assets on charges that it had abused its monopolistic position. The charges were eventually dropped.

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(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

Tajiistan rations electricity

OCT. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s state-owned utility Barqi Tojik said it imposed seasonal rationing of electricity on rural areas on Oct. 18. Tajikistan wants to become a regional exporter of electricity but issues with its own power grid and growing consumption have curbed its ambitions.

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(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

Georgians protest against Gazprom

OCT. 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Hundreds of people demonstrated in central Tbilisi against a potential deal with Gazprom to supply gas to Georgia. The demonstration was a response to a meeting last month between the Georgian government and Gazprom. Georgia and Russia fought a war in 2008 and relations are still strained.

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(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)

Transaero cuts flights to Kazakhstan

OCT. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian airline company Transaero cancelled all flights from Moscow to destinations in Kazakhstan and Armenia after it declared bankruptcy. Russia’s Aeroflot will take over these flights. Transaero filed for bankruptcy on Oct. 1.

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(News report from Issue No. 253, published on Oct. 23 2015)