Tag Archives: gas

Korea invests in Uzbek Lukoil

SEPT. 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian energy company Lukoil said it is negotiating with Korea Eximbank, South Korea’s state export credit agency, on funding for its projects in Uzbekistan. Lukoil is building a $2.66b gas processing plant in Kandym, 100km south-west of Bukhara, with South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering and is developing several projects along the Turkmen-Uzbek border.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 247, published on Sept. 11 2015)

Azerbaijan’s SOCAR confirms Malta interest

SEPT. 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – SOCAR confirmed that it wants to play a role in building a gas-fired power plant in Malta, media reported.

It’s unclear just why SOCAR, Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil and gas company, would want to build a power plant in Malta but it has an office on the island which it has said it uses to reduce its global tax bill.

SOCAR chairman Abdullayev Rovnag met with Maltese PM Joseph Muscat before a football match between Malta and Azerbaijan to discuss the two countries’ cooperation, local media reported.

There was no more detail from the meeting on the power station.

The Times of Malta, though, reported on SOCAR’s Maltese operations earlier this year. It said that SOCAR had set up a company in Malta in 2007 that acted as the parent company of Geneva-based SOCAR Trading. SOCAR Trading generates billions of dollars each year by trading oil. It saves itself a large chunk of tax, the Times of Malta reported, by booking the profit on these sales in Malta. Malta markets itself as a low tax, offshore base for companies trading in Europe.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 247, published on Sept. 11 2015)

Irish Siteserv enters Kazakhstan

SEPT. 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Irish industrial services company Deborah Services Limited (DSL) and Lancaster Group, a Kazakh private holding company, signed a multi-million euro agreement to form a joint venture to serve oil and gas operations in Kazakhstan. Infrastructure and utility support firm Siteserv owns DSL. The new company, DSL Caspian, will provide protective coatings and fire protection at onshore and offshore oilfields in Kazakhstan. Lancaster Group is closely linked to the Kazakh elite. Yerbolat Dossayev, currently minister of economic development, is a major stakeholder in the group.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 247, published on Sept. 11 2015)

Russia cuts gas price for Armenia

SEPT. 11 2015, YEREVAN (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian gas monopoly Gazprom agreed to cut the price of gas it sells to Armenia by 12%, giving the Armenian government much needed economic breathing space.

The economic turmoil blowing through the former Soviet region has hit Armenia hard. Its dram currency has lost around 20% of its value and its economy is stalling.

Inflation is also rising and protesters have become increasingly agitated about utility price increases. Earlier this year, thousands of people demonstrated against proposed electricity price rises, eventually forcing the government into a climb-down.

Now Gazprom, which owns 100% of Armenia’s gas network, appears to have taken pity on Armenia.

Shushan Sardaryan, a spokeswoman for Gazprom Armenia, said that the new price was set at $165, down from $189, for 1,000 cubic metres of gas.

“The current price of natural gas was based on an exchange rate of $1 equalling 416 Armenian drams,” she told reporters. “But the exchange rate significantly differs from this level and the fluctuations damaged the company.”

The dram is now hovering at around 480 against the US dollar.

Ms Sardaryan also made the point that although Russia had reduced the cost of its gas to Armenia, this price reduction would not be passed on to consumers.

Instead, the saving would be made by the government. Armenia has also floated the idea of pricing its gas in roubles, rather than US dollars, a move which would, in theory, protect it from price rises linked to the devaluation of its dram currency.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 247, published on Sept. 11 2015)

Rox Petroleum’s assets in Kazakhstan downgrade

SEPT. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — London-listed Roxi Petroleum said it had downgraded the value of its assets in Kazakhstan by 28% after last month’s devaluation of the tenge. Roxi’s main activities are focused in the Mangistau region, west Kazakhstan. Since the announcement, Roxi’s share price has fallen by 12%.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 247, published on Sept. 11 2015)

Gazprom to invest in Kyrgyzstan

AUG. 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Gazprom, the Russian gas monopoly, will invest $700m in Kyrgyzstan’s gas infrastructure network, Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev told media. Gazprom owns Kyrgyzstan’s gas network and has been promising investment, although it has yet to deliver on these promises.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

Stock market: Tethys, Nostrum, KAZ Minerals, TBC Bank

SEPT. 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Shares in Toronto- and London listed Tethys Petroleum, whose focus is on oil and gas production and exploration in Central Asia, fell significantly after rival Nostrum on Aug. 28 cut a third off the value of an earlier buyout offer.

Tethys shares in Toronto fell by 20% and in London by 29.3%. Tethys responded by saying that it would honour the exclusivity agreement with Nostrum and then look to other companies for potential buyers.

Nostrum said that it had cut its offer after a new due diligence project showed that the original offer had overvalued the company.

In mining, shares in London-listed KAZ Minerals lost 14.2% of their value between Aug. 28 and Sept. 4, wiping gains from August’s devaluation.

KAZ Minerals used to be called Kazakhmys and is focused on copper production.

The Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) of TBC Bank, which are traded in London, fell by around 8% over the week to $9.12, the lowest price to date for the bank.

TBC, which is the largest retail bank in Georgia and counts PM Irakli Garibashvili as a director, has been trading its GDRs in London since 2014.

The Georgian economy, like the rest of the region, has been dealing with the fallout from the slowdown in Russia’s economy. Georgia is also vulnerable to Greece, its second largest source of remittances. There was no particular news from TBC that would have pressures its GDRs.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 280, published on May 13 2016)

Statoil reduces staff in Azerbaijan

SEPT. 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Norwegian oil and gas company, Statoil, is reducing its staff at its office in Azerbaijan, an anonymous employee was quoted as saying. “From 40 employees, the company now has around 10,” the source told the Azeri Press Agency. In 2014, Statoil sold its 15.5% share in the offshore gas field Shah Deniz and its pipeline assets to Malaysian Petronas.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

Gazprom wants 60% of Kyrgyz households to have gas

SEPT. 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a meeting in Bishkek, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller told Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev the Russian gas monopoly wanted 60% of the country to have access to gas.

Gazprom bought the Kyrgyz gas network in 2013 but this is its first major plan for Kyrgyzstan’s pipeline system. Mr Miller said the plan would cost $700m and mean building 2,500km of new gas pipes.

“We are working ahead of our schedule with the government to get Kyrgyzstan ready for the winter,” Mr Miller said at the press conference. He also noted that construction work on the final section of the Tashkent Bishkek-Almaty gas pipeline had started.

The Tashkent–Bishkek-Almaty gas pipeline is touted as a key component of Central Asia’s energy nexus as it will double capacity being sent from Uzbekistan to populated areas in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)

Nostrum cuts offer for Kazakhstan-focused Tethys

AUG. 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – London-listed Nostrum Oil & Gas reduced its offer price for Tethys Petroleum by a third to 0.147 Canadian dollars per share. Nostrum revised its offer after a new due diligence report. Both companies have their main operations in Kazakhstan’s oil sector. Tethys is also listed on the London Stock Exchange.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)