SEPT. 27 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — China’s state-owned energy company, CNPC, said it had discovered a major gas field in a block it is exploring in Turkmenistan. China also commissioned a gas compressor at the start of a gas pipeline through Central Asia. The compressor will increase the pipeline’s capacity.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 8, published on Sept. 30 2010)
SEPT. 27 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan will start investing part of its $20b oil fund in equities for the first time to boost returns, the fund’s chief investment officer Israfil Mammadov told Bloomberg. He declined to say what proportion of the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) would be invested in equities.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 9, published on Sept. 30 2010)
SEPT. 29 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — The investment vehicle of Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal sold its 50% stake in Kazakhstan-based energy company Caspian Investment Resources to Chinese Sinopec for an undisclosed amount. Mr Mittal bought the stake in 2007 for $970m from Russia’s Lukoil which still owns 50% of the company.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 9, published on Sept. 30 2010)
SEPT. 22 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — Two blasts ruptured a pipeline carrying gas through Kazakhstan to Russia, the Kazakh emergencies ministry said. Nobody was injured in the blasts although gas exports along the route were suspended. It is unclear what caused the blasts and how gas exports to Russia from Central Asia will be affected.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 8, published on Sept. 23 2010)
SEPT. 22 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a boost for Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia’s state press service reported that Donald Trump, a U.S. property developer, signed a letter of intent to build a tower in Georgia. Foreign investment was key to Georgian economic growth but it slowed after a war in 2008 with Russia.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 8, published on Sept. 23 2010)
SEPT. 21 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed a framework for a gas pipeline project estimated at $3.3b. The TAPI project was planned in the 1990s but war in Afghanistan has delayed it. TAPI aims to pump gas from Turkmenistan across Afghanistan to Pakistan and India.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 8, published on Sept. 23 2010)
SEPT. 23 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s economy is reliant on oil and gas. It has rebounded this year after a heavy slump in the world economy and oil prices combined in 2009 to knock growth.
In August, the ratings agency Moody’s upgraded the Azeri banking sector to stable from negative, reflecting Azerbaijan’s improving economy. Moody’s said the Azeri economy remained vulnerable to external shocks but “the banks are also benefiting from relatively stable macroeconomic conditions”.
In an interview with Bloomberg, the head of Azerbaijan’s Central Bank, Elman Rustamov, echoed this sentiment. He said Azerbaijan’s economy would grow by 4-5% this year compared to a 14% fall in 2009 but that he wanted to keep Azerbaijan’s currency, the manat, pegged at 0.803 to the US dollar for the rest of the year.
Mr Rustamov said the manat peg was important to stop the currency strengthening too quickly and damaging the non-oil sector’s recovery.
The manat has gained 12.5% against the dollar since redenomination in January 2006.
Oil makes up 93% of Azerbaijan’s exports and the average price per barrel has been 37% higher this year compared to 2009, Mr Rustamov said. Oil production will remain at around 50m tonnes this year, roughly the same as 2009. In 2008, Azeri oil production was 44.5m tonnes.
Mr Rustamov said that inflation would rise to about 10% this year.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 8, published on Sept. 23 2010)
SEPT. 21 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — Showing its appetite for foreign expansion, Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC), the London-listed Kazakh mining company, bought the 50% stake of Brazilian iron ore mine Bahia Minerals it didn’t already own for $670m. ENRC is one of the world’s biggest ferroalloy producers.
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(News report from Issue No. 8, published on Sept. 23 2010)
SEPT. 14 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan agreed to restart oil supplies to Europe through Ukraine’s pipelines after it cut the route in January over a cost dispute. About 8m tonnes of oil per year from Kazakhstan will transit Ukraine.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 7, published on Sept. 16 2010)
SEPT. 14 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan, Georgia and Romania agreed to create a transit route for liquefied natural gas from the Caspian Sea to Central Europe. The route will use existing pipelines to pump gas to Georgia’s Black Sea coast and then ship it across to Romania. It will rival Europe’s proposed Nabucco pipeline system and Russia’s South Stream.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 7, published on Sept. 16 2010)