Tag Archives: gas

Total sells stake in Azerbaijan’s gas project

FEB. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Looking to move out of projects in which it owns only a minority share, Total announced plans to sell its 10% stake in Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz oil field.

Botas, a Turkish pipeline company, confirmed that it is in talks to buy Total’s stake.

There will probably be others interested too. Azerbaijan is an attractive place for countries in the region which need to boost their energy supplies. Last year India’s state-owned ONGC Videsh bought a stake in Azerbaijan’s biggest oil field for $1b.

A Botas spokesman explained the attraction of buying into Shah Deniz. “The acquisition of a 10% stake from Total is commercially profitable,” he told Reuters.

Shah Deniz is the mainstay of Azerbaijan’s gas industry and is currently the subject of a $28b expansion. Some analysts said the cost of the expansion may have triggered Total’s sale plans.

Importantly, a purchase by Botas of Total’s stake would reduce Western Europe’s interest in a gas field which is critical to its long-term energy plans. Azerbaijan has increasingly turned to Turkey, its natural partner, to push through infrastructure and energy projects.

Total is the second major energy company to exit the Shah Deniz project in the Caspian Sea in the past couple of months.

In December, Norway’s Statoil cut its stake in Shah Deniz to 15.5% from 25.5%. Statoil sold this 10% stake for $1.45b to BP and Socar, Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company, indicating that Total may be able to fetch a similar price for its own stake.

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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)

KazTransGaz receives Chinese loan

FEB. 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh state-owned pipeline monopoly KazTransGaz agreed to take a $700m loan from the China Development Bank to build a second 311km gas pipeline from southern Kazakhstan to China. The loan highlights the dominance of Chinese finance and its hunger for gas in Central Asia.

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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)

Tajikistan plans new energy legislation

MARCH 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Lawmakers in Tajikistan’s lower house discussed the draft of a new law that investors hope will help them to do business in its emerging energy sector.

Tajikistan, dependent on fuel imports from Russia and unfriendly neighbour Uzbekistan, is desperate to unlock its own significant hydrocarbons potential. It hopes to both achieve energy security and earn much-needed revenue.

The problem is that the legislation appears unreformed and Byzantine even.

Although details of the law under discussion haven’t been released, it is understood that it is aimed at addressing these problems.

Russia’s Gazprom, Channel Islands-registered Tethys, France’s Total and China’s CNPC are all prospecting in Tajikistan, the latter trio joining forces to exploit the Bokhtar license area in the south-west of the republic which may hold over 3 trillion cubic metres of gas.

Neighbouring China will be the primary customer when — or perhaps at this stage that should still be an ‘if’ — Bokhtar starts gas production.

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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)

Turkmenistan builds natural gas complex

FEB. 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan has begun constructing a gas chemical complex on the shores of the Caspian Sea, media reported. Turkmenistan has grown wealthy from natural gas sales over the past few years and is trying to boost its domestic industrial base.

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

Armenian gas utility renamed after Gazprom

FEB. 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — In case there was ever any doubt over who is in charge, Armenia’s national gas distributor was renamed Gazprom Armenia from ArmRosGazprom, the company said in a statement. Gazprom, Russia’s gas monopoly, finalised buying the whole of Armenia’s gas network in January.

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

Azerbaijan helps Iraq export gas

FEB. 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijani foreign minister Elmar Mammadyarov visited Baghdad and said that Iraqi gas could possibly be exported to Europe through the so-called Southern Gas Corridor. Exporting Iraqi gas through Azerbaijan and its Southern Gas Corridor would require Turkish support.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

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

Iraq looks to Azerbaijan for gas transit

FEB. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan underlined its credentials as a regional energy transport lynchpin by offering to pump Iraqi gas to Europe through its pipeline network.

The offer came during a trip to Baghdad by Azerbaijani foreign minister Elmar Mammadyarov and underlines the importance of the so-called Southern Gas Corridor.

“The project is there, so if there are other countries that want to join the Southern Gas Corridor, including Iraq which has already expressed some interest in this project, we are ready to start negotiations,” the AFP news agency quoted Mr Mammadyarov as saying.

Azerbaijan is planning a massive boost to its gas extraction and pipeline infrastructure over the next few years to cope with a rise in gas exports. This means developing the Southern Gas Corridor and attracting partners to tap into it.

Iraq is, of course, trying to boost its gas exports since the end of the US-led war and has turned to Azerbaijan for help.

To make the deal go through, Azerbaijan needs the support of Turkey which is its partner in the Trans- Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP). Turkey, a NATO member and ally of the United States, is likely to agree.

All this underlines the importance of the Southern Gas Corridor running through the South Caucasus between the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea and Europe.

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

Uzbekistan cuts gas supplies to Kazakhstan

FEB. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan temporarily reduced gas supplies to southern Kazakhstan leaving thousands of people in the south Kazakh city of Shymkent unable to heat their homes or cook, local media reported. Uzbek officials said pipeline repair work had caused the gas supply shortage. Central Asia’s energy system is complex and interconnected.

(News report from Issue No. 170, published on Feb. 5 2014)

Japan gives out a loan to Uzbekistan

JAN. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan is looking to secure a $650m loan from the Japan International Development Agency (JICA) to build a thermal power plant in the Ferghana Valley, media reported. Japan has been looking to boost its influence in Central Asia over the past few years.

(News report from Issue No. 170, published on Feb. 5 2014)

ENI meets with Turkmen president

FEB. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The CEO of Italian energy company ENI, Paolo Scaroni, flew to Ashgabat to meet with Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov. Mr Scaroni talked up the prospects of ENI exploring for oil and gas in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea. Most of Turkmenistan’s main gas projects are currently onshore.

(News report from Issue No. 170, published on Feb. 5 2014)