FEB. 13 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kanat Bozumbayev, the Kazakh energy minister, told media that in 2016 Kazakhstan produced 78m tonnes of oil, beating an initial forecast of 75.5m tonnes. This is important because the government had been forecasting a drop in production because companies were throttling back output under the pressure of poor prices.

ENDS

FEB. 10 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Nostrum Oil & Gas, the London- listed and Kazakhstan-focused, oil producer hit its lowest level since the beginning of the year on Feb. 9. On its main listing in London, Nostrum’s shares were valued at 436p.

Analysts have said that the drop, which has seen it tumble from a high of 475/$1 since Feb. 1, was linked to a general softening of oil prices rather than any news linked to the company itself.

Instead most analysts have given the company a ‘buy’ rating and raised their target prices. Last month Deutsche Bank, Numis Securities, GMP Securities and

Panmure Gordon all gave Nostrum a ‘buy’ rating and targeted share prices of 535p to 600p.

Credit Suisse downgraded its outlook for Nostrum to a ‘hold’ from a ‘buy’ and targeted a price of 415p to 440p.

At the end of last month, Nostrum said in its annual report that output had just about matched expectations and that it would realise savings in 2017 through a connection to the KTO pipeline.

“(This) will allow us to realise significant savings to exported crude oil transportation costs and continue to seek to reduce costs across the business,” it said.

ENDS