Tag Archives: hydrocarbons

India buys into Azerbaijani energy projects

MARCH 30 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — As if waking from a deep slumber and noticing nearby riches to grab, India is slowly buying up energy resources in the Caspian Sea region.

On March 29, Sudhir Vasudeva, head of India’s state-owned energy company ONGC, said that its subsidiary ONGC Videsh had completed the purchase of a 2.72% stake in Azerbaijan’s Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil fields in the Caspian Sea and a 2.36% stake in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.

ONGC Videsh bought the stakes from the US oil company Hess for $1b. The deal was announced last year. This deal is important as it marks India’s entry into the Caspian Sea energy race.

India needs more energy and has announced an ambitious expansion plan to match; Central Asia and South Caucasus region is an obvious place to expand in to.

But India is playing catch-up. Chinese, Russian and Western energy companies are already entrenched in the region.

That said, India has unveiled impressive plans. It is pushing to build a pipeline from gas fields in Turkmenistan across Afghanistan to south Asia and it has agreed a $5b deal to buy an 8.4% stake in Kashagan, in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea, from US’s Conoco Phillip.

Kazakhstan has yet to approve the Kashagan deal but India’s Caspian Sea intentions are clear.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 130, published on April 5 2013)

Oil export tax increased in Kazakhstan

APRIL 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Underlining Kazakhstan’s reliance on its energy sector, Kazakh PM Serik Akhmetov, signed into law a 50% increase in oil export duties.

From April 13, exporters will pay a $60 tax to the government for every tonne of oil they export, up from $40. Reuters quoted deputy economy minister Marat Kusainov as saying that the extra revenue will be spent on social projects.

Wherever the extra revenue is spent, energy companies will no doubt be tired of being used as a cash cow whenever the Kazakh government wants to raise cash.

The government has flip-flopped on the oil export duty, introducing it in 2008, scrapping it altogether in 2009, when the global economy tumbled and energy prices fell, before reintroducing it again.

In 2010, the export tax stood was $20 per tonne. This increased to $40 per tonne in 2011.
The oil export duty also re-enforces the feeling that the Kazakh government is often too focused on taxing energy exporters rather than developing other parts of the economy.

After all, in 2011 Kazakh government ministers promised there would be no oil export tax rise until at least 2014.

Clearly the plan, if not the mind-set, changed.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 130, published on April 5 2013)

Turkmenistan plans to produce gas at Galkynysh

MARCH 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan plans to start gas production at its Galkynysh gas field by July, media quoted the Turkmen minister for oil and gas, Mukhammednur Halylov, at a conference in Dubai. Galkynysh is the world’s second largest gas field and the start of production will underline Turkmenistan’s status as a major energy supplier.

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(News report from Issue No. 128, published on March 22 2013)

Turkmenistan supplies 20bcm of gas to China

MARCH 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – State-owned TurkmenGas supplies 20b cubic metres of gas to China a year, media quoted the company’s chairman, Kakageldy Abdullayev, telling the Dubai conference. Mr Abdullayev said that by 2020 Turkmenistan would supply China with 65b cubic metres of gas a year, more than Russia and Kazakhstan combined.

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(News report from Issue No. 128, published on March 22 2013)

Turkmenistan agrees to deal with Iran

MARCH 6 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan has agreed a deal with Iran to receive goods and produce in lieu of fees owed for gas, Bloomberg reported quoting the state-run Iranian Students Agency. Turkmenistan is an important supplier of gas to northern Iran, reportedly supplying up to a third of its imports. US sanctions have hit Iran’s cash flow.

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(News report from Issue No. 126, published on March 8 2013)

Uzbekistan doubles gas exports

MARCH 4 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – The value of Uzbekistan’s energy exports nearly doubled to $5b in 2012, the Eurasianet website reported quoting the Uzbek State Statistics Committee. Most of the increase was due to the opening of a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to China.

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(News report from Issue No. 126, published on March 8 2013)

Azerbaijani company to issue Eurobond

MARCH 1 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s state energy company Socar plans to issue a $1b Eurobond by the end of the year to fund various upstream and downstream projects, media quoted company president Rovnag Abdullayev as saying. This will be the second Eurobond issue by Socar following its $500m issue last year.

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(News report from Issue No. 126, published on March 8 2013)

Norwegian energy company pulls out of Kazakhstan

FEB. 20 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Norwegian energy giant Statoil confirmed that it had pulled out of the Abay oil prospect in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea, media reported. A Statoil spokesman said that a technical and commercial evaluation of the project had triggered the withdrawal.

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(News report from Issue No. 125, published on Feb. 22 2013)

Statoil pulls out of Kazakh Abay

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(News report from Issue No. 125, published on Feb. 22 2013)

Turkmenistan resumes gas exports to Ukraine

FEB. 13 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov signed a deal with his visiting Ukrainian counterpart, Viktor Yanukovich, to resume gas exports to Ukraine. Ukraine had imported gas from Turkmenistan until a few years ago when it switched to Russia. Now it wants to diversify its imports and include Turkmen gas.

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(News report from Issue No. 124, published on Feb. 15 2013)