JUNE 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov was one of a handful of international leaders to head to Azerbaijan for the opening ceremony of the European Games. In Baku, he held talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Turkmenistan wants to send gas to Europe via Azerbaijan.
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(News report from Issue No. 236, published on June 18 2015)
JUNE 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan exported 4.1% more gas in the first five months of the year compared to the same period last year, media quoted the country’s statistics agency as saying. Azerbaijan wants to expand gas exports.
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(News report from Issue No. 236, published on June 18 2015)
JUNE 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said lending to projects in Kazakhstan would hit a record $1b this year as the country diversifies away from oil, gas and other extractive minerals.
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(News report from Issue No. 235, published on June 11 2015)
JUNE 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan is looking for foreign partners to invest in the $16.5b oil, gas and petrochemicals processing plant it plans to build near Baku, a senior executive at the plant told Reuters. Azerbaijan has delayed completing the plant because of a lack of funds.
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
MAY 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Serbia has withdrawn from Russia’s Turkish Stream project, Serbian PM Alexander Vucic said, handing an important boost to Azerbaijan’s aspirations of becoming a major gas supplier to Europe. Russia plans to build a gas pipeline across the Caspian Sea to Turkey and then into Europe via the Balkans.
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(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)
MAY 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a boost for EU aspirations to pump gas from Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan said that although the countries which ring the Caspian Sea still argue over ownership, it didn’t see any problems building a pipeline across it, media reported. The EU is keen to diversify its gas supplies away from Russia.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – With European gas supplies in mind, Turkmenistan intends to increase gas output, media quoted the petroleum minister, Muhammetnur Halyov, as saying. Turkmenistan is positioning itself to become a major supplier of gas to the EU in the next few years.
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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)
MAY 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif flew to Ashgabat to meet with Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and discuss prospective energy projects.
After their meeting, Mr Sharif said Pakistan wanted to speed up regional energy projects, including the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan- India (TAPI) pipeline — a much-discussed project that could deliver Turkmen gas to South Asia.
Mr Sharif’s visit to Ashgabat highlights just how important the TAPI project is to South Asia and also reflects Turkmenistan’s burgeoning status in the region.
Turkmenistan is trying to push the TAPI project forward in order to diversify its export routes. Its main client is China although it is also in talks with the EU to supply gas.
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(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
MAY 14 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Outside the financial sector, SOCAR, Azerbaijan’s state energy company, is the largest company in Georgia, media reported quoting research from Ilia University in Tbilisi. SOCAR Petroleum Georgia is a SOCAR subsidiary. Its main business in Georgia is a network of petrol stations.
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(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
SUMQAYIT/Azerbaijan, MAY 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Absheron, the narrow peninsula surrounding Azerbaijan’s capital Baku, gives a remarkable insight into the country’s patchy oil-funded growth.
Dystopian industrial decay, dirty villages of crumbling homes and bleak oil fields of rusty drills share the same few dusty square miles with newly built sumptuous seaside resorts, whitewashed villas and long stretches of crowded beaches dotted with flashy restaurants and garish wedding palaces.
The coexistence of opposites is arguably not a harmonic one. Embarrassed by the deteriorating state of Absheron’s infrastructure and the dire living conditions of much of its population Azerbaijan’s political elite seems to have opted for the creation of a Potemkin-façade of disproportionate lavishness.
Along the modern highway connecting Heydar Aliyev International Airport to the resort town of Buzovna high marble walls veil the view of surrounding shantytowns and oil spills.
Azerbaijan’s government indulges in creating unrepresentative showcases of the country, while the huge revenues of the oil and gas industry centred in and around Absheron, fail to filter down to the local inhabitants.
The uneven distribution of both profits and investments is epitomised by the fate of Sumqayit, Absheron’s biggest town. A thriving industrial centre during Soviet times, this northern shore town of concrete blocks and wide alleys now feels abandoned.
Resentment towards the government is high in Sumqayit and the town has become a breeding ground for religious extremism. Last year there were reports that Sumqayit had become a hotbed for Syria-bound would-be jihadists and a string of arrests and search operations were carried around town.
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(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)