SEPT. 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – French energy company Total will start oil production at its Absheron site in the Caspian Sea in 2021, Reuters quoted Azerbaijani energy minister Natiq Aliyev as saying, a year later than stated. Total owns 40% of Absheron, Azerbaijani state energy company SOCAR also owns 40% and GDF Suez owns 20%.
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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)
SEPT. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan increased oil exports through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline by 70% in the first eight months of the year compared to the same period in 2013, media quoted the national statistics agency as saying. BTC pumps oil from the Caspian Sea to Turkey and then on to Europe.
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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)
SEPT. 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Energy experts handed out more predictions of energy shortages this coming winter in Kyrgyzstan. One expert, Nikolai Kratsov, told the KNews website electricity could be turned off for up to 15 hours a day. Hydropower generates Kyrgyzstan’s power. Reports say reservoir levels are low.
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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)
SEPT. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The World Bank has offered to lend Kyrgyzstan $25m to help improve energy infrastructure ahead of the winter, media reported. Kyrgyzstan is facing a potential energy crisis this winter with water levels in its dams at a low. Energy shortages trigger frustration which bubbles over into public anger.
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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)
SEPT. 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s Central Bank officially decreed that Halyk Bank, one of the country’s biggest banks, could buy HSBC’s Kazakh subsidiary. Halyk Bank agreed to buy HSBC’s Kazakh operation earlier this year for around $175m. HSBC is streamlining its business, cutting the less profitable operations.
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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)
SEPT. 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Aktobe region in northwest Kazakhstan is on the brink of running out of petrol, the regional government’s business head Bagzhan Tlegenov said. Supplies of petrol have been particularly tight since August because of low refinery capacity in Kazakhstan and falling imports from Russia.
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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)
SEPT. 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan increased its oil products production by nearly 2% in the first half of the year, media reported quoting official statistics. Although a marginal increase it is important because Central Asia is experience a general shortage of oil products.
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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)
SEPT. 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan plans to start construction of its first wind farm by 2016, pro-government media quoted the director of the institute of energy at Uzbekistan’s Science Academy, Hakim Muratov, as saying. He said Germany’s GEO-NET Umweltconsulting is assessing the best spots.
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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)
SEPT. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A delegation from Qatar visited Tajikistan promising various investments, including setting up an Islamic bank, media reported. Islamic banking has previously been discussed in Central Asia, especially in Kazakhstan. Qatar is looking to spread its influence across the Islamic World, including Central Asia.
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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)
SEPT. 12 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Asian Express Airline, a private airline, will fly two return flights next month to the city of Barnaul in Russia’s Siberia from Dushanbe for migrant Tajik workers, media reported. The new route shows the economic power and importance of remittances from migrant workers to the Tajik economy.
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(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)