Tag Archives: business

Workers strike in west Kazakhstan

JUNE 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Workers at an oil services company that supplies equipment to the Kashagan oil project in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea have gone on strike, media reported.

Since a strike by oil workers in west Kazakhstan ended in 2011 in clashes with police and 15 people being killed, the authorities have been ultra-sensitive to industrial action, so news that workers have walked out of Tuplar Energy Serves Company (TESCO) complaining of late salary payments will frustrate them.

TESCO have responded that their main client, the Australian company WorleyParsons hasn’t paid their invoices on time. WorleyParsons hasn’t commented.

The importance of this latest strike action in west Kazakhstan is not who is ultimately responsibly, no doubt lawyers will thrash this out, but the impact on the local community. If people aren’t working and aren’t being paid that means less cash in the local economy, increasing frustration and resentment of the increasingly rich political elite.

One disgruntled worker told the lada.kz news website: “I came here to work and establish a family, now I can’t find another job, the company hasn’t paid me for six months and the banks are pressuring me about my mortgage.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 190, published on June 25 2014)

Korea wins Turkmen contract

JUNE 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – During a trip to Ashgabat by South Korean President Park Geun-hye, Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov awarded a $4b contract to build gas processing plants to South Korea’s LG and Hyundai. Ms Geun-hye has been on a week-long tour of Central Asia that has taken in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan too.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 190, published on June 25 2014)

Tajikistan and Pakistan agree on CASA- 1000

JUNE 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan and Pakistan have agreed on a price for electricity, a diplomatic source told Pakistan’s Express Tribune newspaper, clearing a major obstacle for the CASA-1000 project. CASA envisages Tajikistan supplying Pakistan with electricity. Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif visited Dushanbe earlier this month.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 190, published on June 25 2014)

World Bank loan to Uzbekistan stirs anger

JUNE 12 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The World Bank agreed to give Uzbekistan a $260m loan to improve irrigation in its agriculture, media reported, angering human rights activists who accuse Uzbekistan of using child labour to pick cotton. Cotton is one of Uzbekistan’s biggest exports although many Western fashion brands refuse to use it in their clothing.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 189, published on June 18 2014)

Barroso meets with Azerbaijan’s President

JUNE 14 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso visited Baku in a strong show of support for strengthening relations with Azerbaijan.

Mr Barroso pledged not only the EU’s full support for the Southern Corridor, an energy transit route from the Caspian Sea, but also support for a pact to further push Azerbaijan towards Europe.

Europe’s main motivation for the Southern Corridor — hinged around a gas pipeline linking the Caspian Sea to central Europe — is to reduce its reliance on Russia for its gas supplies. Azerbaijan’s motivation is to link directly to a major client.

But talk of another deal moves EU-Azerbaijan relations on to another level. Potentially, at least.

“We held a very successful meeting with President Ilham Aliyev, and made important decisions, one of which was to hasten the completion of a new agreement between Azerbaijan and the EU,” media quoted Mr Barroso as saying.

Russia is likely to look poorly on any move by Azerbaijan to integrate more closely with Europe. Just as with Ukraine and Georgia, Russia considers Azerbaijan to be part of its patch.

Three days after Mr Barroso’s visit to Baku, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov flew into town for bilateral talks. He is sure to make this point to the Azerbaijani leadership.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 189, published on June 18 2014)

Kyrgyzstan OKs Kumtor plan

JUNE 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – After a six month delay, Kyrgyzstan approved a business plan for Centerra Gold’s Kumtor mine in the east of the country. The approval narrowly beat a deadline set by Toronto-listed Centerra Gold which had threatened to close the mine for the year. Kumtor is Kyrgyzstan’s single biggest industrial operation.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 189, published on June 18 2014)

Kazakh President supports ENI

JUNE 12 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan and Italy demonstrated their strong links by agreeing a series of deals at a meeting between Italian PM Matteo Renzi and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev at the Borovoye resort outside Astana.

Despite criticism of its handling of the Kashagan oil field development in the Caspian Sea, Italian energy company ENI was the main beneficiary of the deals.

Kashagan was supposed to be pumping out oil and projecting Kazakhstan into the top ranks of global oil producers. Instead, it lies idle while repairs are made.

Alongside Kazakh energy company KazMunaiGaz, ENI will explore a new site in the Caspian Sea. It will also team up with Italian engineer Finmeccanica to build a new shipyard at Kuryk on the Caspian Sea coast. Italian truck maker Iveco also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Kazakh ministry of transport.

Domenico Sermesi, a partner at Almaty-based Adala Consulting, said the deals were good news.

“After the hiccups of last summer, this agreement, together with the document on the military corridor, is a sign of a renewed partnership,” he said.

Reference to a military corridor is to NATO forces withdrawing from Afghanistan through Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan and Italy certainly have a close relationship and Mr Nazarbayev emphasised this when he said that he was “confident that ENI’s activities in Kazakhstan will continue to be successful”.

Of course there will be strings attached to this backing. Kazakhstan will expect support for its application to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and also to win a seat at the UN Security Council in 2017/18.

Regardless, the Italian stock market liked Mr Renzi’s visit to Kazakhstan. ENI’s shares rose 1.66% afterwards in an otherwise flat market.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 189, published on June 18 2014)

Kazakhstan approved Russian oil transit to China

JUNE 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s lower house of parliament ratified a deal that will increase the amount of Russian oil pumped through Kazakh pipelines to China to 10m tonnes per year from 7m tonnes per year. The deal highlights Kazakhstan’s role as a oil transporter, and not just a producer, to China.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 189, published on June 18 2014)

Turkmenistan holds one of biggest gas reserves

JUNE 16 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In 2013, Turkmenistan produced 62.3b cubic metres of gas, only a slight increase on the previous year, BP said in its annual review of the world’s energy setup. It also said that after Russia, Iran and Qatar, Turkmenistan holds the largest gas reserves in the world.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 189, published on June 18 2014)

Pakistan PM visits Tajikistan

JUNE 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Pakistan’s PM Nawaz Sharif flew to Tajikistan for a two day trip that is seen as vital in pushing through joint energy projects. One proposal is the CASA-1000 project which would allow Pakistan to import electricity from Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

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(News report from Issue No. 189, published on June 18 2014)