JAN. 29 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan-focused oil producer Nostrum Oil & Gas said that it expected lower revenues in 2018 because of a 4% decline in production. The announcement by the AIM-listed producer follows 2018 results that already showed a sharp fall in production to 31,254 barrels of oil equivalent, down from 39,199 barrels in 2017.
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>This story was first published in issue 398 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 31 2019
Copyright The Conway Bulletin 2019
JAN. 25 (The Conway Bulletin) — As part of improved bilateral relations, Turkmenistan will start pumping its oil via Russia, reducing flows through the BTC pipeline that runs from Azerbaijan, through Georgia to Turkey, analysts told Reuters. The reduction in Turkmen flows will also lower the quality of the oil from BTC as its oil is considered high-quality.
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>This story was first published in issue 398 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 31 2019
Copyright The Conway Bulletin 2019
TASHKENTJAN. 8 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Uzbekistan have freed from prison businessman Mirodil Jalolov, former CEO of Zeromax — once the country’s biggest company.
His wife told RFE/RL that a court released Mr Mirodli after a short hearing linked to corruption charges. In 2010, when a closed-court jailed him, the charges against Mr Mirodli were not released.
Zeromax had once been an all-powerful conglomerate with stakes in a range of assets across Uzbekistan from mining, to football, to logistics. Analysts had said Zeromax was ultimately owned by Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of Islam Karimov, the former Uzbek president.
She has been in jail since 2014 when she was arrested on various corruption charges. Her father died in 2016.
Mr Mirodli was arrested in 2010 shortly after the Uzbek government took control of Zeromax. It said it had seized Zeromax’s assets because it owed its creditors $500m. Some analysts saw the move as a revolt by rival regime members and the first public sign of decline for the once all-powerful Karimov family.
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>>This story was first published in issue 396 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 11 2019
JAN. 18 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia will continue its role as a transit country for gas supplies between Russia and Armenia, Georgian PM Mamuka Bakhtadze said. Until January 2017, Russia had paid Georgia by giving it 10% of the total gas it sent to neighbouring Armenia. Since 2018, it has paid a fee. This year, after Russia increased gas prices, Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan said he wanted to buy more gas from Iran.
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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019
JAN. 17 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s Pasha Bank doubled its share of the corporate lending market in 2018, the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s said. It said that Pasha’s share had increased to 17% of the market from 9%. Pasha has been looking to expand its loan portfolio in both Azerbaijan and also in Georgia and Turkey, markets that now make up a quarter of its loans.
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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019
JAN. 17 (The Conway Bulletin) — French vehicle conversion company Gruau is considering setting up a plant in Uzbekistan, media reported. It reported that Gruau’s vice-president for international development, Sylvain Sene, had been in the country scoping out the prospect. Gruau is considered a world leader in converting vehicles for specialist uses such as for disabled people and the security forces.
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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019
DUSHANBE/JAN. 11 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajik Air suspended its flights and sent staff home on unpaid leave, setting off speculation that it was about to declare bankruptcy.
Somon Air, Tajikistan’s privately-owned airline, is likely to be the main beneficiary of the bankruptcy. It has said that it will accept Tajik Air tickets for now and has already announced plans to lay on another weekly flight to Moscow from Dushanbe.
Tajik Air had operated three ageing Boeings on its international routes to Russia, Central Asian capitals and China, and Soviet-era Antonov planes on its domestic routes.
The Dushanbe-based Asia Plus news agency quoted officials at Tajik Air as saying that staff had been sent home to “optimise costs in difficult times”.
A source, though, said that bankruptcy was imminent.
“We have been systematically approaching this point in recent years,” Asia Plus quoted the unnamed source as saying. “The company has been kept on a weak oxygen feed, mastering its resources in a roundabout way in its own interests.”
He said that Tajik Air was often used to buy jet fuel from traders and then to sell it on to other aviation companies at inflated prices.
“The bulk of the profit of Tajik Air was derived through aviation kerosene” he said.
The jet fuel business is closely linked to corruption, although there have been no allegations of Tajik Air involvement in any unlawful practices.
As well as financial issues, Tajik Air has also had a patchy safety record and has regularly been ranked as one of the world’s 20 worst airlines to fly with. In 1993 a Tajik Air Yak-40 plane crashed while taking off at Khorog Airport, killing 82 people.
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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019
JAN. 17 (The Conway Bulletin) — State-owned Kazakhstan Engineering signed a deal with Russian Helicopters, also state-owned, to assemble helicopters at its plant in Astana. Specifically, Kazakhstan Engineering will assemble the Mil Mi-8AMT/Mi-171 helicopter which has a number of uses from ferrying cargo, to operations with the security services.
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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019
JAN. 14 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan increased its exports of cement to 1.44 tonnes, worth an estimated $65.4m, in 2018, media reported, up by around a third from 2017. The main markets for the exports are Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan. Tajik cement is replacing Pakistani cement as the mainstay for the region.
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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019
JAN. 11 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian energy company Tatneft said it had registered a subsidiary in Uzbekistan, although it did not elaborate on its business aims. Tatneft is one of the biggest energy companies in Russia and also operates 691 petrol stations across Russia, Belarus and Ukraine
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>>This story was first published in issue 397 of The Conway Bulletin on Jan. 20 2019