Tag Archives: hydrocarbons

Turkmenistan-led TAPI project is delayed, says Pakistan

JAN. 26 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Completion of the $10b Turkmenistan-lead TAPI gas pipeline that will pump gas from eastern Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India via Afghanistan has been delayed by a year to 2020, Pakistani media said quoting ministry officials. They said that the delay had been caused because it had taken longer than expected to pull together the finance for the project.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 314, published on Jan. 27 2017)

Georgia’s difficult gas deal with Russia

JAN. 27 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — >> Why are people getting so upset about this new gas deal between Georgia and Russia?

>> After a couple of rounds of negotiations in Geneva, Georgian energy minister Kakha Kaladze returned to Tbilisi heralding a new gas deal which he said he had negotiated with Russia that was better than the previous arrangement. The new arrangement returned to a monetised price that Georgia would pay Russia for gas rather than, under the old deal, take a 10% cut of the volume that Russia sends to Armenia.

>> Right. But why would Georgia want to start paying for gas rather than just take a slice of the transit volumes?

>> That’s exactly the point. Kaladze returned from Geneva heralding the new deal as a victory for Georgia over Russia but it could be more of an own goal. Certainly Margvelashvili was immediately critical of the deal. He may have been playing politics, he has fallen out with his former colleagues in the Georgian Dream coalition and often sounds like an independent politician, but his concerns have been parroted by others too.

>> Go on. What are the details?

>> Kaladze was coy with the details of the deal and exactly how much Georgia would now have to pay Russia for gas but a think-tank called World Experience for Georgia (WEG) said that it would now have to pay $185 per 1,000 cubic metres of gas which is more than Armenia and Germany pay for their gas.

>> So what have the Georgian energy ministry and Kaladze said?

>> Surprisingly little, other than back Kaladze’s statement that the price negotiated was a good one. And this secrecy could be part of the problem. They have said that the actual price negotiated is a commercial secret, a statement that hasn’t gone down well.

>> But there must be some upside put forward by the government other than the price.

>> The deal does give Georgia more flexibility about where it sources its gas. It is likely that Azerbaijan’s Socar will be the big winner here with more gas being sourced from them.

>> And Kaladze? What has he said?

>> He’s come out fighting as he knows that his political reputation is on the line. Without being any more specific on the pricing structure agreed with Russia, he accused Pres. Margvelashvili of being unpatriotic. This row is likely to run and run and may have more far reaching political implications.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 314, published on Jan. 27 2017)

Fluor wins Kazakh oil field contract

JAN. 24 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Britain-based subsidiary of the US’ Fluor said that it had won a two-year engineering services deal with the North Caspian Operating Company (NCOC), the consortium of companies exploiting the giant Kashagan oil field in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea. No value was put on the contract but it will be a boost to Fluor which has developed a strong regional strand of work.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 314, published on Jan. 27 2017)

Malaysia to invest in Kazakh oil fields

JAN. 20 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Nakamichi Corporation Berhad, a Malaysian independent oil company, signed a deal with Aktau Transit to invest $146m in two oil fields in west Kazakhstan. The deal commits the two companies to explore the oil fields.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 314, published on Jan. 27 2017)f

Azerbaijan’s Socar wants Turkey petrol stations

JAN. 23 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In an interview with the Turkish newspaper Sabah, Socar Turkey Energy director general Zaur Gahramanov said the company was committed to opening a chain of petrol stations throughout Turkey.

Socar is bidding to buy the 1,785 petrol stations belonging to Austria’s OMV in Turkey. Even if Socar’s bid fails it will look to buy up petrol stations in Turkey. Socar owns the Star Refinery in Izmir. The $6b refinery is due to start production in April 2018 and is Socar’s biggest overseas investment.

“The acquisition of OMV Petrol Ofisi is the most suitable option for Socar, but we have alternatives,” he said. “We can launch talks on the acquisition of another company or create a new network in Turkey.”

Socar owns a network of petrol stations in Georgia and has been looking to expand. The collapse in oil and gas prices since 2014 has forced Azerbaijan to change its focus to downstream products and services.

OMV bought the petrol stations between 2006 and 2010 for $2.5b. Aramco, Petromium-C consortium and Vitol are also bidding to buy the petrol station network.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 314, published on Jan. 27 2017)

Turkmenistan continues gas bill negotiations with Iran

JAN. 26 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan said that it was prepared to enter negotiations with Iran over a disputed gas bill of $1.8b, although it still retains the right to take the dispute to an international court. Turkmenistan cut off gas supplies to Iran last month after accusing it of not paying debts it said had built up from 2007/8. The row has surprised observers who have watched Turkmenistan-Iran relations improve.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 314, published on Jan. 27 2017)

Kazakhstan discovers new oil field

JAN. 24 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s energy ministry said that it had found a new oil and gas field in the west of the country. The field, known as Ansagan, is located Zhylyoi region near Atyrau. Officials didn’t give any indication of the scale of the find but said instead that exploration was continuing. Kazakhstan’s economy is reliant on oil and gas.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 314, published on Jan. 27 2017)f

Eriell buys Uzbek subsidiary

JAN. 14 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Eriell GmbH, an Austria-registered company whose biggest shareholder is Gazprombank, has bought a 51% stake in Sarbon-Neftegaz from the state-owned Uzbekenergo, the Tashkent stock exchange reported. The Italian-language agcnews.eu website said that Eriell had paid $3.94m for the stake. Sarbon-Neftegaz provides transport services to oil and gas companies in Uzbekistan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Georgia president criticises new gas deal

TBILISI, JAN. 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili criticised a high-profile gas deal struck with Russia by energy minister Kakha Kaladze as a threat to national security, exposing a deep fissure in Georgia’s politics.

Commenting on a new agreement that will see Russia pay to transport gas across Georgia to Armenia, instead of giving Georgia 10% of the volume on a barter arrangement, Mr Margvelashvili’s official spokesperson, Eka Mishveladze, said Mr Kaladze was playing a high-risk game.

“The issue of Gazprom is more than just a business agreement, this is security, foreign policy and geopolitics first and energy and economy after that,” she said.

Although elected on a Georgian Dream ticket, Mr Margvelashvili has increasingly distanced himself from his former colleagues, preferring to present himself as an independent voice. Georgia is set for a presidential election in 2018.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Georgia-based Zenith lists on LSE, raises $.2.77m

TBILISI, JAN. 11 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Calgary-based Zenith Energy completed a share listing on the London Stock Exchange, raising £2.3m ($2.77m) to fund the debt repayment and exploration costs at its oil and gas fields in Azerbaijan, Italy and Argentina.

Zenith Energy signed a production sharing agreement with Azerbaijan’s state-owned Socar in March 2016 to jointly develop the Muradkhanli, Jafarli and Zardab oil producing sites, 240km inland from Baku. They are the biggest onshore oil fields in Azerbaijan and had produced up to 9,000 barrels of oil a day at their peak during the Soviet Union. They now produce around 300 barrels a day.

At the time of the deal Zenith’s CEO, Andrea Cattaneo, said that new techniques and infrastructure investment could reboot the fields and boost production.

Now Zenith has raised more cash to help pay for this exploration.

Commenting on the listing on the London Stock Exchange, Mr Cattaneo said: “We believe that the Company’s listing on the Official List will provide a supportive platform to help us achieve our ambitious growth objectives.”

Zenith Aran Oil Company was the Virgin Islands-registered company set up Zenith Energy to push the Azerbaijani projects forward.

Zenith’s shares in London started trading at 7p but moved to over 10p.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)