Tag Archives: fuel

Turkmenistan cuts petrol subsidy

APRIL 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a surprising, and perhaps risky, move, Turkmenistan’s President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov ordered the authorities to scrap a monthly handout of petrol to car owners.

Mr Berdymukhamedov had introduced the subsidy in 2008 to ease a massive increase in the price of fuel. Mr Berdymukhamedov’s eccentric predecessor Saparmurat Niyazov had set the price of petrol at an unrealistic 2 cents per litre. Mr Berdymukhamedov wanted to raise the price to 22 cents.

Reuters quoted Turkmenistan’s state media as saying that the abolition of the fuel allowance was needed to “help sustain the growth of the national economy, achieve the efficient use of oil products and ensure their orderly converting to cash on the domestic market”.

In other words, Mr Berdymukhamedov decided that it was time to wean the population off the free fuel allowance.

Turkmenistan can, after all, afford the petrol giveaway. It has grown rich from energy exports. These exports are mainly gas. It produces roughly 10m tonnes of crude oil a year, most of which it refines into oil products locally.

Salaries are low in Turkmenistan. The sudden cut in fuel subsidies may impact people and increase resentment.

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(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)

Fuel prices rise in Kyrgyzstan

MARCH 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The price of fuel in Kyrgyzstan has increased by as much as 6.7% since the beginning of the year, media reported. An official from an industry lobby group blamed increased import prices from Russia for the rise. Fuel price rises, especially sharp ones, can generate discontent.

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(News report from Issue No. 177, published on March 26 2014)

Kazakhstan predicts fuel price increase

MARCH 14 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — A rare admission from a Kazakh insider that the country’s energy policies may not be working hints at future fuel price increases, analysts have said.

Sauat Mynbayev, chairman of state-owned KazMunaiGas, said sending Kazakh oil to China to be processed into fuel and then re-importing it to make up for a shortfall in domestic refining capacity has become too expensive.

“The transit operations regarding the refining of Kazakhstan’s oil in China has become unprofitable,” media quoted him as saying.

Analysts immediately unpicked his statement. What this meant, they said, was that fuel prices would rise shortly.

And that, as the government knows, will be deeply unpopular.

Oil-rich Kazakhstan has a chronic lack of refining capacity. The three refineries at Shymkent, Pavlodar and Atyrau are often under repair. New refineries are only scheduled to come on-stream in five or six years time.

To make up for the shortfall, Kazakhstan is importing refined fuel from China and Russia. It is also sending unrefined fuel into China for processing and then shipping it back over the border.

Added to this complex arrangement is Kazakhstan’s 20% currency devaluation in February which makes imports even more expensive.

Mr Mynbayev has just been made head of Kazakhstan’s Greco-Roman wrestling federation, a position that underlines his insider credentials.

For an insider to admit a policy problem is almost unheard of in Kazakhstan. As analysts have now warned, expect fuel price increases.

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(News report from Issue No. 176, published on March 19 2014)

Fuel shortages may occur in Kazakhstan

FEB. 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan may experience fuel shortages this year, media quoted Sauat Mynbayev, head of Kazmunaigas, as saying. Kazakhstan’s three oil refineries are being upgrading, reducing their capacity and forcing the authorities to import fuel from Russia. The currency devaluation has made fuel imports expensive.

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(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)

Demand for petrol rises in Azerbaijan

FEB. 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Rovnag Abdullayev, the head of Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company SOCAR, said that demand for petrol in Azerbaijan was rising by 10-11% each year, media reported. This is important because is both serves as an economic indicator and also shows the need to boost refinery capacity in Azerbaijan.

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(News report from Issue No. 171, published on Feb. 12 2014)

Uzbekistan increases petrol prices

JAN. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Uzbek government increased the price of petrol by 20% because of continued shortages. Uzbeks are already labouring under a series of price rises, from food to general utilities. The jump in petrol prices could cause resentment to grow.

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(News report from Issue No. 167, published on Jan. 15 2014)

Uzbekistan turns to wood for fuel

NOV. 21 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Uzbekistan have ordered residents of Tashkent to use wood as fuel to combat energy shortages, Uzbek media reported. According to one website, the order has sent wood prices in Tashkent rocketing. People in Uzbekistan have been experiencing shortages of gas and electricity for months.

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(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)

Fuel shortage continues in Uzbekistan

NOV. 1 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Despite assurances to the contrary, media groups continued to publish reports which said there was a shortage of fuel in Uzbekistan. US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that the worst shortages were in the eastern Ferghana Valley.

(News report from Issue No. 159, published on Nov. 6 2013)

Fuel shortages spread across Uzbekistan

OCT. 29 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Fuel shortages are spreading across Uzbekistan, including in Tashkent, media reported. Photos reportedly showing drivers queuing for fuel in the Uzbek capital are important because it had previously been less effected by shortages than the rest of the country. The Uzbek government denies there are fuel supply problems.

(News report from Issue No. 158, published on Oct. 30 2013)

Fuel price increases in Kazakhstan

OCT. 24 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan increased its state-imposed cap on fuel prices by 7 tenge to 117 tenge ($0.76) per litre of 92-octane petrol. Prices for the lower grade 80-octane petrol and diesel were left unchanged.

The closure of the refinery in Shymkent for scheduled repairs has triggered localised fuel shortages in the weeks prior to the price hike, scheduled for November.

In Southern Kazakhstan fuel was sold only through coupons and in limited quantities. Lines of cars queued at petrol stations that quickly ran out of 92-octane fuel and supplied only the 80-octane version.

Fuel price rises hurt consumers and tension is brewing in Kazakhstan.

According to the Kazakhstan Fuel Association (KFA), a fuel industry lobby group, routine repairs at the Shymkent refinery caused the shortage. It is only one of three refineries in Kazakhstan.

The government has instead blamed a general global increase in oil for the rise on the petrol price cap.

Ordinary drivers are even more frustrated. They blame owners of petrol stations for holding back supplies until the fuel price cap had been raised.

They’ve also had to stomach a higher price increase than originally flagged up.

(News report from Issue No. 158, published on Oct. 30 2013)