Tag Archives: construction

China expresses interest in Kazakh Mangistau

FEB. 2 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Alik Aidarbayev, head of the Mangistau region of western Kazakhstan, said that only China has expressed serious interest in paying for the construction of a new oil refinery. The Mangistau region has been working on plans to build Kazakhstan’s fourth refinery for years. Mr Aidarbayev’s comments are important because they show both the financial power of China and the relative weakness of Russia. Kazakhstan has been looking to boost its refinery capacity for some time. It currently has three refineries.

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(News report from Issue No. 266, published on Feb. 5 2016)

 

LG Group scraps project in Kazakh city

JAN. 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – South Korea’s LG Group dropped a $4.2b project to build a petrochemical plant near Atyrau in western Kazakhstan because of continued low oil prices. The cancellation is perhaps the biggest project to be ditched during the current economic slowdown.

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(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

 

Kazakhstan orders to pay $25m for ditching building plans

ALMATY, JAN. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — An arbitration court in Stockholm ordered a Kazakh state- owned company to pay €22.7m ($24.8m) to Estonian construction company Windoor for reneging on a building deal in Astana.

The case is important as more and more infrastructure projects in Kazakhstan grind to a halt with the deepening economic slump.

In the Stockholm case, Windoor, which specialises in glass-aluminium structures, filed a lawsuit against state-owned Diplomat Stroi Servis for €18m ($19.7) after it failed to pay for work it had carried out on a conference centre.

In 2012, Windoor and Baltiiski Dom, a Kazakh construction company, agreed a deal to build a 40,000 square metres diplomatic conference centre behind the Kazakh ministry of foreign affairs.

In an interview via email with The Conway Bulletin, Mailis Lintlom, the Windoor chairman, said: “By early 2014, it became clear that the construction of the project was behind schedule and that Windoor would not be able to start the [installation] work of the facade at the agreed time.” In February 2015, in line with the worsening economy in Kazakhstan, Windoor was told that the project had been “frozen”, triggering Windoor’s arbitration action.

At the end of December 2015, the Stockholm court said Diplomat Stroi Servis, owned by the Economic Department of Kazakhstan’s ministry of foreign affairs, will have to pay a €4.7m premium on Windoor’s court claim.

A Kazakh court will have to enforce the payment and Windoor is still waiting for a judicial confirmation of the award.

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(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Kyrgyzstan to construct pipeline to China

JAN. 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan will begin construction work on a new gas pipeline running to China in March, media reported quoting Deputy Economy Minister Aibek Kaliev. The pipeline, which will take several years to build, will complete a route running from gas fields in east Turkmenistan through Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and on to Kyrgyzstan and China.

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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

 

Deutag wins contracts in Azerbaijan

DEC. 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — British services company KCA Deutag won two contracts with BP worth up to $1b for operations, maintenance and engineering work in Azerbaijan. The Aberdeen-based company will work on seven oil and gas platforms operated by BP off the coast of Azerbaijan, including those exploiting the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil field and the Shah Deniz gas field, two of Azerbaijan’s most important energy projects. KCA Deutag has worked in Azerbaijan for 20 years, mostly with BP. Rune Lorentzen, president of Offshore at KCA Deutag, said: “These major contract awards build on KCA Deutag’s long standing relationship with BP, and recognise our efforts to deliver both continuous improvement and value to our client.”

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(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

Swiss company seals deal with Azerbaijani pipeline project

DEC. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Swiss company ABB will provide the IT control infrastructure for the TANAP pipeline which will pump 16b cubic metres of gas from Azerbaijan to Turkey and link up with the Europe-bound gas grid (Dec. 15). ABB has already worked on telecoms systems for pipelines, notably with the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. The company did not disclose the value of the contract. TANAP is considered vital to boosting European deliveries of Azerbaijani gas.

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(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

SinoHydro builds Armenia road

DEC. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Chinese state-owned SinoHydro said it will build a 27.5km section of a north-south road in Armenia for €74m ($81m). Once the full upgrade is finished in 2019, the complete 556km-long road, called the North-South Corridor, will connect the town ofBavra on Armenia’s border with Georgia to Meghri on Armenia’s border with Iran. The total cost of the project is €381m ($417). Various inter-governmental financial institutions and the Armenian government are paying for the project.

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(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)

 

Georgia completes railway

DEC. 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia has completed its 178km section of the revamped Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway that links the Caspian Sea with the Turkish border, media reported. Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey agreed to upgrade the railway line 10 years ago to boost trade. The upgrade work has been delayed and has overrun its budget.

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(News report from Issue No. 259, published on Dec. 4 2015)

 

Azerbaijan’s Sofaz to diversify portfolio

NOV. 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Without giving specific detail, Israfil Mammadov, the deputy executive director of Azerbaijan’s sovereign wealth fund Sofaz told Bloomberg News that the fund would be diversifying its investment portfolio next year. Sofaz has already diversified into real estate, gold and equities. Earlier this year, Sofaz bought a landmark shop on one of Tokyo’s most well-known retail streets.

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(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

SOCAR-Fugro joint venture to upgrade Azerbaijan’s refinery

NOV. 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company SOCAR said its joint venture with Dutch oil and gas services company Fugro will work on the modernisation of a refinery near Baku. SOCAR Fugro will provide geophysical and geotechnical services for the modernisation work. Azerbaijan has earmarked around $1b for reconstruction work on the country’s largest refinery.

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(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)