MAY 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia has confirmed that it will send 12 more heavy tanks to Azerbaijan, media reported, part of a major arms deal between the two countries. The deal will cause consternation in Armenia, which views Russia as its main ally and Azerbaijan as its biggest foe.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)
MAY 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The consortium of companies developing the second phase of the Shah Deniz gas field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea handed out another major contract.
This time it was a $735m contract to build two sections of a pipeline that will pump gas to Europe. This is an important project both for Azerbaijan and for Europe which is looking to reduce its dependency on Russia for energy.
A joint bid by Azeri firm Azfen and Amsterdam-based Saipem Contracting Netherlands BV won the contract to build a 428km pipeline between Azerbaijan and Georgia and a second 59km pipeline in Georgia.
Earlier this year the BP-led consortium developing Shah Deniz II, as the second phase of the development is known, handed out contracts worth billions of dollars, including also to Saipem, an Italian oil and gas services company.
And there promises to be plenty more multi-million- dollar contracts. Shah Deniz II is one of the biggest infrastructure projects in the world. Its entire cost is estimated at $28b.
Reuters quoted Gordon Birrell, BP’s president for the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey region as saying that the development of the South Caucasus Pipeline Expansion was on schedule.
Most of the contracts are due for completion by 2017, with first gas scheduled for a year later.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)
May 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan plans to produce 75b cubic metres of gas this year, up from 70bcm last year, a senior official told Reuters on the sidelines of the annual gas conference in the Caspian Sea resort of Avaza. Turkmenistan has been boosting its output to hit increased demand.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)
May 14 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia will start building a deep water port on its Black Sea coast to cope with an expected surge in cargo being transported across the South Caucasus and on to Europe.
Georgian PM Irakli Garibshvili appeared to slip in news of the planned construction, almost casually, during comments he made at a Georgia-France business forum.
“We expect that Georgia’s demand for transport and logistics will increase,” the Trend news agency quoted Mr Garibashvili as saying.
“Therefore, we have decided to construct a deep-sea port in the Black Sea (Anaklia), to better serve the rapidly growing business in transportation and warehousing sectors.”
There has been something of an infrastructure boom across the South Caucasus.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline pumps oil from the Caspian Sea to Turkey, generating revenue for the transit countries and plans for more pipelines will also push up earnings.
What Mr Garibashvili was talking about though is physical cargo transported from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea. Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey have combined to modernise the co-called Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway. This is predominantly a trade route used to transit goods. Although it doesn’t finish in Anaklia it will still benefit the port town just north of Poti.
Increased trade across the South Caucasus is set to give Georgian industry a much needed boost.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)
May 15 2014 (The Conway Bulletin)- The consortium of companies developing the giant Kashagan oil field in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea will have to replace the entire pipeline system, Kazakhstan’s oil and gas minister Uzakbai Karabalin said. The massive rebuild may delay the re-start of Kashagan beyond 2015.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)
May 18/19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev travelled to Hanoi for his first trip to Vietnam. While there he signed various agreements with his Vietnamese counterpart Truong Tan Sang to deepen bi- lateral relations. Like Azerbaijan, Vietnam is also developing its off-shore energy industry.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)
May 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a state visit to China, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said that Kazakhstan would boost oil exports to China. China has become Kazakhstan’s biggest energy client. It is looking for more and more energy supplies and has been consolidating its stranglehold.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)
May 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s gas export volume is set to fall by nearly 10% this year because of a decline in sales to Russia, a senior SOCAR official told Reuters. SOCAR is the Azerbaijani state energy company. This is important as gas is a major currency earner for Azerbaijan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)
May 15 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The joint-venture between US carmaker GM and the Uzbek government sold 14% less cars in Russia between January and April this year compared with the same period in 2013, media reported. Reports did not give a reason why sales had tailed off. Russia is one of the key markets for the car plant, based in Andijan, east Uzbekistan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)
May 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajik president Emomali Rakhmon held talks in Dushanbe with Wan Zhenhua of Zijin Mining’s Zarafshon copper-gold- silver mining company in Khujand, Tajikistan (May 19).
Reports made the meeting sound rather Soviet. They listed the various social achievements which included finding work for 2,000 people since 2007 and noting that Chinese investment has reached $235m. The mine now produces half Tajikistan’s total gold production.
But the real story is elsewhere.
Typically, gold mining projects can take up to seven years to become profitable, while red tape surrounding license issuance and political unrest in Central Asia can considerably extend timeframes.
State-owned Zijin, China’s largest gold producer, also owns a gold mine in Kyrgyzstan’s Chui province. In Kyrgyzstan, Zijin had to evacuate roughly 250 employees from their operation in Orlovka village, Chui, in 2012 when one of their excavators reportedly killed a local’s horse, triggering an attack on the company’s offices.
Given the reluctance of other foreign investors to mine in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, some believe China’s interest in mining projects is about strategic control of mineral wealth in the two countries, rather than money.
“Chinese companies take on projects that in my mind are not profitable,” Valentin Bogdetski, head of the Kyrgyz Miners Association told the Conway Bulletin.
“Last year, a Chinese firm won a license for an iron ore concession in Zhetim-Too [Naryn province]. But this ore has little market value, so why do they want the license?”
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)