MARCH 24 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Malaysia-based Cliq Energy said it would buy stakes in two oil fields in Kazakhstan for $117.3m through a 51% purchase of Phsytech Firm. The fields are located in the North Karazhanbas region of Mangistau, west Kazakhstan, and have proven reserves of 39.5m barrels of oil.
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(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)
MARCH 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – SOCAR, Azerbaijan’s state energy company, said that it had issued $750m worth of 15-year Eurobonds. It had earlier said that it would issue debt but didn’t specify how much. SOCAR said the debt issue was linked to the fall in oil prices.
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(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)
MARCH 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Canada-based Condor Petroleum halted oil production at its Shoba oil field in west Kazakhstan because the oversupply of cheaper Russian oil products has dented domestic production.
A fall in oil prices and the imbalanced between the Russian rouble and the Kazakh tenge are hurting foreign energy companies in Kazakhstan. “Kazakhstan is experiencing an oversupply of refined oil products, including diesel, which is causing downward pricings pressures on domestically produced diesel and on crude oil,” Condor Petroleum said in a statement.
“Currently, Kazakhstan refineries are either not operating or the offering prices are below the Company’s cost of operations.”
This is, in effect, a criticism of the Kazakh government’s determination to defend the tenge despite the imbalance with the rouble.
Earlier this month a Kazakh official said important upgrade work to Kazakh refineries would have to be postponed because Russian oil products had destroyed their profitability.
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(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)
MARCH 24 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Cotton Campaign, a lobby group set up to stop Uzbekistan using child labour to pick its cotton, said the Uzbek authorities had detained and arrested one of its in-country reporters. Uzbekistan has not commented.
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(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)
MARCH 14 2015 (The Bulletin) – Georgia received nearly 8% less visitors in January and February this year compared to the same period last year, media reported quoting government figures. Some analysts blamed the drop on tightened visa regulations for visitors from China, Iran, Iraq and Egypt.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 11 2015 (The Bulletin) – Carrefour, the French supermarket group, opened their first store in Armenia. The news is a boost to Armenia which has been hit hard by a financial downturn in the region. Carrefour said it had taken three years to open its new store in Yerevan.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 17 2015 (The Bulletin) – Turkmenistan airlines have signed a deal with Lithuania’s FL Technics to provide maintenance for its fleet of five Boeing passenger jets, media reported. Turkmenistan Airlines has been trying to boost its fleet and international image.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 17 2015 (The Bulletin) – Hyatt Hotels said that it expects to open a new hotel in Tbilisi by 2017. The announcement will be a boost to Georgia’s tourist and foreign business sectors.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 13 2015 (The Bulletin) – Garment production in Kyrgyzstan dropped by 50% in the first two months of the year, media quoted the Kyrgyz national statistics agency as saying. The agency did not say why clothing output had plummeted but it may be linked to the regional economic downturn.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 12 2015 (The Bulletin) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has opened up an office in the town of Khujand in north Tajikistan to help support small business, media reported. The EBRD has been extending its Tajik projects.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)