Tag Archives: gas

Armenia and Iran to boost electricity-gas swap

OCT. 4 2015, YEREVAN (The Conway Bulletin) — At a meeting in Tehran, the Iranian and Armenian energy ministers said they will increase the volume of their gas-for-electricity swap deal, deepening relations between the two neighbours.

Alireza Kameli, managing director of the National Iranian Gas Export Company, told local media that Iran is ready to supply as much as 2.3b cubic metres of natural gas yearly to Armenia through the existing 140km long pipeline. According to Armenian government figures, Armenia currently imports less than 400m cubic metres of gas every year from Iran. By comparison, Armenia imports roughly five times as much gas from Russia as it does from Iran every year.

“Armenia is currently unable to take full advantage of the capacity of the pipeline because of the lack of necessary infrastructure,” Mr Kameli said alluding to the lack of electricity infrastructure in Armenia.

Still the the two sides are working together on extending Armenia’s electricity transmission network. Armenia is building a third high-voltage transmission line, part-funded by Iran. According to the Armenian ministry of energy, the country currently exports 1.8b kWh of electricity to Iran every year, a volume that can be increased up to 6.9b kWh.

Electricity is one of their biggest exports for Armenia. It’s also become highly political. This year thousands of people protested in Yerevan against proposed price rises. The government eventually agreed to subsidise the price rises.

And this month, the government agreed the sale of the electricity distribution network by Russia’s Inter RAO to an Armenian billionaire.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)

BP stops maintenance in Azerbaijan

OCT. 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — BP said it had temporarily stopped planned maintenance work at one of its platforms operating in Azerbaijan’s Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) offshore oil field. BP, which operates ACG and holds a 35.8% share in the consortium, had said that its planned maintenance work at the Chirag platform which would shut the platform for 20 days from Sept. 17. It is unclear if the maintenance work has been completed.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)

Tethys shareholders reject Kazakh companies’ final buy-out offer

ALMATY, OCT. 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — London-listed Nostrum Oil & Gas withdrew its offer to buy Tethys Petroleum, ending hopes of a merger between the two Kazakhstan- focused companies.

Shortly after Nostrum announced it had scrapped its bid, Kazakhstan- based AGR Energy submitted an offer to buy a large chunk of equity in Tethys for a premium. The AGR offer, helped Tethys shares rebound by 12% on the Canadian stock market.

Earlier the final word on the long- running Nostrum bid came from Tethys’ largest shareholder, Pope Asset Manager. It said it did not support the latest offer of 0.147 Canadian dollars per share that would have valued the company at $49.5m.

Nostrum had tried to buy Tethys’ shares for two months but a deal slipped away as the sustained oil price collapse ate into the value of energy companies in general and Tethys shares in particular.

Both companies have their main operations in Kazakhstan. The value of their assets has decreased due to the weakening Kazakh tenge against the US dollar.

Nostrum’s withdrawal was an opportunity for AGR, a company linked to the Assaubayev family. It put in an offer of $20m for a large portion of Tethys’ equity, valuing shares at 0.165 Canadian dollars. In addition, AGR also proposed a $5m loan to support short-term liquidity and the option of buying more shares.

Earlier in August, Tethys failed to conclude a $47.7m refinancing deal with AGR, which would have granted the Kazakh company a controlling stake in Tethys.

The Assaubayev family was involved in Kazakhstan’s gold sector but has since switched its focus to oil. In August 2014, it invested $62.5m into British company Max Petroleum becoming a 51% shareholder.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 251, published on Oct. 9 2015)

Finnish company wins tender in Kazakhstan

SEPT. 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Finnish-based Wärtsilä won a tender to build a 40MW combined heat and power (CHP) plant near the Caspian port of Aktau, in west Kazakhstan. The Kazakh company KazAzot will manage the plant, which Wärtsilä plans to complete in late 2016. The plant will power the city of Aktau and its industrial hub.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)

Georgia’ energy minister meets with Gazprom

SEPT. 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia energy minister Kakhaber Kaladze met up with Gazprom chairman Alexei Miller in Brussels to discuss Georgia’s role as a client and transit country for Russian gas. Media didn’t give details of the meeting but it did speculate that Georgia may be looking for help from the Kremlin to fill its energy deficit.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)

Gazprom supplies gas to Azerbaijan

SEPT. 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian state-owned company Gazprom started supplying natural gas to Azerbaijan. Initial volumes stand at 6m cubic metres per day, the contract between the two parties envisages a maximum yearly supply of 2b cubic metres. Azerbaijan said the contract was struck because of economic growth and an increase in domestic consumption.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)

FM highlights Azerbaijan’s global energy role

SEPT. 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Highlighting Azerbaijan’s enhanced role in the global energy system, foreign minister Elmar Mammadyarov said in a speech at the UN General Assembly in New York that the country had become a “crucial player” in the system. Europe wants to increase imports of gas from Azerbaijan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)

KMG EP appoints new “tech savvy” CEO

ALMATY, SEPT. 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — In an effort to re-invigorate itself, London-traded KMG EP appointed the tech-savvy Kurmangazy Iskaziyev as its new CEO.

KMG EP is the upstream branch of Kazakhstan’s state-owned energy company Kazmunaigas. The company’s earnings have dropped because of low oil prices and a decline in production. Some upstream operations have been suspended.

Mr Iskaziyev replaces Abat Nurseitov, who was CEO when the company needed to generate cash quickly. It sold its stake in the Kashagan oil project and issued Eurobonds to raise capital.

Christopher Hopkinson, KMG EP’s chairman, said Mr Iskaziyev was a veteran of the company, having served as the CEO of Embamunaigas.

“Mr Iskaziyev has extensive experience in applying new technologies and increasing production efficiency,” Mr Hopkinson said.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)

BP extends DNV GL deal in Azerbaijan

SEPT. 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — BP said it would extend DNV GL’s contract in Azerbaijan’s leading natural gas field for the second stage of operations. Oslo-based DNV GL provides marine warranty and consulting for oil and gas fields globally. The second phase of Shah Deniz sets it up for a massive expansion that will eventually mean more gas being sent to Europe.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

Azerbaijan begins TANAP work

SEPT. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan has begun work on the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) project, part of the route that will carry gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe, local media quoted Rovnag Abdullayev, the chairman of Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company SOCAR, as saying. Mr Abdullayev said that 400km of pipes had been delivered to TANAP.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)