SEPT. 24 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Centerra Gold, which is listed in Toronto, plans to look for another Kyrgyz mine to invest in once it has finalised an ownership deal for the Kumtor mine, its CEO Ian Atkinson told Bloomberg News. The Kyrgyz government and Centerra have been arguing over ownership of Kumtor, Kyrgyzstan’s largest industrial project.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 153, published on Sept. 25 2013)
SEPT. 20 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — DemirBank, one of Azerbaijan’s biggest banks, estimated its loan portfolio would grow by 16% by the end of 2014, Trend news agency reported quoting the bank’s deputy chairman Rauf Akhundov. Mr Akhundov’s assessment is another sign that Azerbaijan’s economy has recovered from the 2008/9 global financial crisis.
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(News report from Issue No. 153, published on Sept. 25 2013)
SEPT. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Rovnag Abdullayev, the chairman of Azerbaijan’s state energy company SOCAR, was emphatic when describing a deal between the consortium developing the Shah Deniz II gas field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea and energy companies in the EU.
It was, he said, the “biggest gas deal in the history of Azerbaijan” and it also marked “the beginning of direct links between Azerbaijan’s huge gas resources and the European markets.”
Clearly for Mr Abdullayev the deal to send around 10b cubic metres of gas every year to Europe for 25 years was historic.
It’s certainly big and important. The deal was worth $100b, reportedly, to the energy consortium developing Shah Deniz II — BP, Statoil and SOCAR — and allows Europe to reduce its dependency on Russia for it gas supplies.
Geopolitically, the gas deal has another important undertone.
Russia is the major loser in the deal. It has been unable to secure extra gas supplies from Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has also been able to establish itself as a key competitor to Russia for the European gas market.
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(News report from Issue No. 153, published on Sept. 25 2013)
SEPT. 23 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan has steadily increased its gas sales to Georgia over the past few years, Gagamali Seyfullayev, head of state energy company SOCAR’s gas export department, told media. This year Azerbaijan will pump about 1b cubic metres of gas to Georgia, up from 775m in 2011.
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(News report from Issue No. 153, published on Sept. 25 2013)
SEPT. 20 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, and Singapore’s minister for industry, Lee Yi Shyan, opened a new shipyard in Baku. The new yard will turn Azerbaijan into a major shipbuilder. Keppel O&M, a Singapore-based marine construction company, owns a 10% in the $480m project. The rest is owned by Azerbaijan.
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(News report from Issue No. 153, published on Sept. 25 2013)
SEPT. 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — As part of a joint Kazakh-Chinese investment programme, construction will begin on a new potash fertiliser plant in western Kazakhstan, Kazakh deputy industry minister Nurlan Sauranbayev said. Mr Sauranbayev said the initial cost of the plant would be about $1b.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
SEPT. 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan has applied to host matches at the 2020 European football championships, media reported. Last year European football’s governing body, UEFA, announced that several cities will host matches for Euro 2020, one of the biggest football tournaments in the world. Baku is building a 68,000-seat stadium.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
SEPT. 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan signed a deal to sell spare power to Pakistan and Afghanistan. The deal, signed in Islamabad, means building power cables from Central Asia. Hydropower stations in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan generate spare electricity in the summer while both Pakistan and Afghanistan suffer shortages.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
SEPT. 13 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a consortium with two other unnamed companies, South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction won a $3.4b contract to build an ethane treatment plant in Turkmenistan, media reported. The contract, with Turkmengas, demonstrates just how wealthy Turkmenistan has become over recent years.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
SEPT. 13 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Interest in investing on the Baku Stock Exchange is growing, local media quoted Rufat Aslani, the Azerbaijani government official in charge of regulating securities, as saying. Mr Aslani said three IPOs were planned by the end of 2013, including Goldenpay, an online payment systems, which plans to sell 10% of its stock.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)