June 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Electricity prices in Armenia will increase, media quoted Robert Nazaryan, chairman of the Public Services Regulatory Commission, as saying, ending months of indecision. This will be the third electricity price rise in two years and triggered street protests.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
JUNE 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Seemingly undeterred by the fall in global oil prices over the past 12 months, Kazakhstan announced a new project to explore the Caspian Sea for more oil and gas deposits that it may be able to tap into.
Vladimir Shkolnik, Kazakhstan’s energy minister was talking to the Kazakh parliament when he made the announcement.
“Based on studies by international experts, the Caspian Depression is estimated to hold giant hydrocarbon reserves of some 60 billion tonnes of oil. This is why we are starting to implement the Eurasia project with the use of innovative geological technologies,” he said.
“Five of the world’s leading oil and gas companies have displayed interest in this project and we are now forming a consortium.”
If, though, Mr Shkolnik was high on grand gestures, he was weaker on the detail.
Mr Shkolnik may have said that five international companies were looking at joining the Kazakh government in a consortium, but he didn’t say which ones. Currently, with oil prices hovering per barrel, down from around $100 in the summer, exploring the Caspian Sea may not be an enticing prospect.
And there is also the small matter of Kashagan too. Kazakhstan and its partners have poured billions of dollars into this Caspian Sea oil field and yet it is still to produce significant quantities of oil.
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
JUNE 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The number of people travelling by air directly between Tbilisi and Moscow has risen by 65%, Georgia’s government said. Georgia and Russia have only recently re-started direct flights between the countries. The data shows just how important an air-link is between the two capitals for trade and tourism.
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
MAY 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Apparently not content with a booming gas industry, Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said that he wanted to develop an electronics industry. Mr Berdymukhamedov has been keen to push Turkmen industry.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
MAY 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Serbia has withdrawn from Russia’s Turkish Stream project, Serbian PM Alexander Vucic said, handing an important boost to Azerbaijan’s aspirations of becoming a major gas supplier to Europe. Russia plans to build a gas pipeline across the Caspian Sea to Turkey and then into Europe via the Balkans.
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
MAY 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s government has put a building in the centre of Tbilisi which houses the economy ministry up for sale, the first lot in a batch of state property earmarked for privatisation. Media reported that the government expected to sell the building as a potential hotel for $6m.
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
JUNE 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan will start to take shipments of low-grade enriched uranium from 2017, Timur Zhantikin, an official in the Kazakh energy ministry said, two years after original hoped-for start date.
Uranium has been an important part of Kazakhstan’s post-Soviet story. When it became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991, Kazakhstan inherited a batch of nuclear weapons. Rather than selling them, abandoning them or hoarding them, Kazakhstan turned the nuclear weapons over to the US to be deposed of safely, winning plaudits around the world.
Since then, eager to win the Nobel Peace Prize, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has promoted Kazakhstan as a leader in nuclear-disarmament.
Now it has struck a deal with the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the world’s nuclear watchdog, to host a bank of low grade enriched uranium.
Countries can apply for enriched uranium if projects have been approved for peaceful purposes.
The two year delay in setting up the nuclear bank is only a minor nuisance. It should still be a boon to Kazakhstan.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
DEC. 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said it had lent Kazakhstan’s flagship airline Air Astana $14m for the construction of an aircraft maintenance facility. The new facility will be built at Astana International Airport. Air Astana is the region’s biggest airline. Britain’s BAE Systems owns a 49% stake. Samruk-Kazyna owns 51%.
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(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)
JUNE 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a trip to Bishkek, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) president Suma Chakrabarti said that it planned to invest $70m in Kyrgyzstan to boost its investment climate. Mr Chakrabarti highlighted the need for investment in local currency and capital markets.
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
JUNE 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan Temir Zholy, the national railway company, is building a new ferry terminal on the Caspian Sea, media reported.The terminal, at Kuryk south of Aktau, should be operational by December 2016 and highlights Kazakhstan’s drive to boost its trade across the Caspian Sea.
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)