DEC. 10 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Global Witness, the anti-corruption lobby group, published a report that alleged widespread use of offshore accounts and shell companies to move cash out of state-owned energy company SOCAR. Azerbaijan denied any wrongdoing.
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(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)
DEC. 10 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkey will take a larger stake in the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) running from the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea to Europe, said Rovnag Abdullayev, head of Azerbaijan’s state energy company SOCAR. Statoil and Total will be offered smaller stakes to accommodate Turkey’s ambitions.
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(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)
DEC. 10 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Profits from SOCAR, Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company, are disappearing offshore through a network of faceless companies controlled by one mysterious man.
That’s the short version of how Azerbaijan’s energy sector is run according to the London-based anti-corruption lobby group Global Witness in their new report entitled “Azerbaijan Anonymous”.
“While SOCAR and its partners may well have acted within the law, the lack of transparency about SOCAR’s partners and how they came to be involved in the Azerbaijani oil industry raises questions over potential conflicts of interest, preferential treatment, and the risk of corruption,” Global Witness wrote.
SOCAR has denied that it has done anything illegal and said in response: “The Republic of Azerbaijan is a founding member of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) task force subjecting the reviews of SOCAR to thorough examination and auditing.”
The EITI is a group set up to monitor whether resource-rich countries spend their revenues responsibly. Global Witness’s report criticised EITI too and said it was a weak institution with little genuine influence.
On Azerbaijan, the Global witness report said that Anar Aliyev, the mysterious owner of several companies linked to SOCAR, was virtually unknown and that he was working on behalf of several higher profile individuals. It said that Mr Aliyev was formally responsible for dozens of companies which have generated $375m profit over five years.
Aliyev is a common surname in Azerbaijan and Anar Aliyev has no family connection with Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s president.
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(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)
DEC. 2 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Greek parliament ratified a deal to build the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) which will connect Turkey with Italy and send Azerbaijani gas to the EU. The Greek parliament’s ratification is important as it keeps TAP on track for a construction start in 2015.
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(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)
NOV. 20 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Uzbek government fired the head of its gas pipeline monopoly Uztransgaz, Tulyagan Jurayev, less than a month after the head of Uzbekneftegas, the state energy company, was also sacked. It’s unclear why Mr Jurayev was sacked. Analysts said it may be part of a power struggle in Uzbekistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 161, published on Nov. 20 2013)
NOV. 7 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Fuel shortages and a power struggle in Uzbekistan appear to have claimed another major scalp in Shavkat Majidov, the long-serving first deputy chief of Uzbekneftegaz. Although no official information has been made available, media reported Uzbek President Islam Karimov sacked Mr Majidov over continued fuel supply problems.
Mr Majidov was a powerful man, in charge of oil-related affairs in Uzbekistan and closely linked with Gulnara Karimova, Mr Karimov’s elder daughter.
Ms Karimova had once been considered a potential presidential successor but more recently she has come under pressure from rivals. Prosecutors in Europe and Uzbekistan have opened investigations into her business affairs; her supporters are being targeted.
Mr Majidov’s removal, according to a media report, is linked to an investigation into shortages at the Ferghana Oil Refinery. Ms Karimova’s ally Akbarali Abdullayev had controlled the refinery until police arrested him in October. This arrest, it appears, left Mr Majidov vulnerable. It has also allowed outsiders another glimpse of the interwoven world of politics and business in Uzbekistan.
Sultan Alisher, a member of parliament loyal to Mr Karimov, and director of the Shurtangaz chemical plant, has taken over as deputy head of Uzbekneftegaz. He’s a safe pair of hands that Mr Karimov can rely on as the power game in Uzbekistan unfolds.
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(News report from Issue No. 160, published on Nov. 13 2013)
OCT. 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan’s state-owned energy company Uzbekneftegaz has denied reports that households across the country are facing a shortage of gas supplies, local media reported. People living in rural areas of Uzbekistan have previously talked of gas shortages to a Conway Bulletin correspondent.
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(News report from Issue No. 157, published on Oct. 23 2013)
SEPT. 19 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The consortium developing the Shah Deniz II gas field in Azerbaijan’s sector of the Caspian Sea signed a deal with various companies in the EU to supply them with gas over the next 25 years. The deal will help reduce the EU’s reliance on Russia for gas supplies.
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(News report from Issue No. 153, published on Sept. 25 2013)
SEPT. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Rovnag Abdullayev, the chairman of Azerbaijan’s state energy company SOCAR, was emphatic when describing a deal between the consortium developing the Shah Deniz II gas field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea and energy companies in the EU.
It was, he said, the “biggest gas deal in the history of Azerbaijan” and it also marked “the beginning of direct links between Azerbaijan’s huge gas resources and the European markets.”
Clearly for Mr Abdullayev the deal to send around 10b cubic metres of gas every year to Europe for 25 years was historic.
It’s certainly big and important. The deal was worth $100b, reportedly, to the energy consortium developing Shah Deniz II — BP, Statoil and SOCAR — and allows Europe to reduce its dependency on Russia for it gas supplies.
Geopolitically, the gas deal has another important undertone.
Russia is the major loser in the deal. It has been unable to secure extra gas supplies from Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has also been able to establish itself as a key competitor to Russia for the European gas market.
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(News report from Issue No. 153, published on Sept. 25 2013)
SEPT. 23 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan has steadily increased its gas sales to Georgia over the past few years, Gagamali Seyfullayev, head of state energy company SOCAR’s gas export department, told media. This year Azerbaijan will pump about 1b cubic metres of gas to Georgia, up from 775m in 2011.
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(News report from Issue No. 153, published on Sept. 25 2013)