JULY 9 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Norwegian energy company Statoil wants to re-start exploration at the Zafar-Mashal oil and gas bloc in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, media reported. The Zafar-Mashal bloc has been mothballed since the mid-2000s when ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips withdrew from the field because it was commercially unviable.
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(News report from Issue No. 143, published on July 15 2013)
JULY 9 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — In Ashgabat, Turkmen officials agreed a deal to sell gas to Afghanistan. The deal is an important step for the planned TAPI pipeline which will feed gas from Turkmenistan across Afghanistan to Pakistan and India. Successful completion of TAPI would cement Turkmenistan’s place as a major global gas supplier.
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(News report from Issue No. 143, published on July 15 2013)
JULY 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev sacked his energy minister, reportedly because of continued delays to the Kashagan oil project, Kazakhstan’s flagship energy development. Sauat Mynbayev had been energy minister since 2007. He moves to head Kazmunaigas, the Kazakh state energy company. Uzakbai Karabalin, a technocrat, becomes the new energy minister.
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(News report from Issue No. 142, published on July 8 2013)
JUNE 24 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Highlighting Turkmenistan’s increasing importance as an energy supplier, Israel sent its first ambassador to Ashgabat, media reported. The arrival of Ruevan Daniel, a former agent of the Israeli intelligence services Mossad, as Israel’s ambassador may also sour Turkmenistan’s relations with neighbour Iran.
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(News report from Issue No. 141, published on July 1 2013)
JUNE 28 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — What has felt like a titanic battle between two competing proposals to link a gas transit route from the Caspian Sea to Europe is finally over.
At a press conference on June 28, the consortium of energy companies developing the Shah Deniz gas field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea said they had chosen the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) to send their gas to Europe.
TAP route will carry the gas across Turkey, Greece and Albania and then under the Adriatic Sea to Italy. It is headed by Norway’s Statoil, Switzerland’s AXPO and E.ON Ruhrgas of Germany.
TAP’s victory means defeat for Nabucco West, its main rival headed by Austria’s OMV.
The decision, though, was hardly a surprise. While Nabucco West’s bid has slowly lost momentum its fate was sealed earlier this month when SOCAR, the Azerbaijani energy company, bought a 66% stake in DESFA, Greece’s natural gas distributor.
Now TAP has to be built. It will run for 520km and cost $2.2b. Once it’s up and running, Europe’s reliance on Russia for gas supplies will be reduced and Azerbaijan’s importance to Europe will be increased,
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(News report from Issue No. 141, published on July 1 2013)
JUNE 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s energy company SOCAR has agreed to buy a 66% stake in Greek gas distributor DESFA for $540m, media reported. The deal highlights cash-rich Azerbaijan’s appetite for foreign assets and should also make the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, part of a gas route from the Caspian Sea to Europe, more viable.
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(News report from Issue No. 140, published on June 24 2013)
JUNE 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — China National Petroleum Company (CNPC) and France’s Total agreed a deal with London and Toronto-listed Tethys Petroleum to develop an oil and gas site in Tajikistan. The deal gives each company a third stake in the Bokhtar project. Developing Bokhtar successfully could transform Tajikistan’s economic future.
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(News report from Issue No. 140, published on June 24 2013)
JUNE 17 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia’s Gazprom has said it wants to buy a 20% stake in Armenia’s ArmRosGazprom that it doesn’t yet own. Armenia’s government currently owns the outstanding 20% stake in ArmRosGazprom. ArmRosGazprom is Armenia’s monopoly gas distributor and the move would give Russia control over Armenian energy consumption.
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(News report from Issue No. 140, published on June 24 2013)
MAY 30 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — On a trip to Ashgabat, Turkish President Abdullah Gul signed a framework deal with his Turkmen counterpart Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov to transport gas from Turkmenistan to Europe. Turkmenistan is looking for additional transport routes to pump gas to clients in Europe, China and the Middle East.
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(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)
MAY 28 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Austria’s OMV has agreed to sell a 9% stake in the company planning to build the proposed Nabucco gas pipeline from the Shah Deniz II gas field in Azerbaijan to Europe. France’s GDF Suez agreed to buy the stake for an undisclosed amount. The consortium developing Shah Deniz II will decide whether to use Nabucco or a rival to deliver gas to Europe.
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(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)