Tag Archives: hydrocarbons

Georgia agrees for gas transit fee with Russia

JAN. 11 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a major success for Georgian energy minister Kakha Kaladze, Russia will start paying for the right to pump gas across Georgia, scrapping a barter arrangement that had allowed Georgia to keep a 10% share of the gas. Russian officials had resisted the shift to monetary payments but appear to have relented at talks in Geneva. Mr Kaladze did not name the transit price agreed with Russia.

ENDS

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

Kazakhstan Caspian pipeline exports increase

JAN. 9 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Exports via the Caspian Pipeline, which pumps oil from western Kazakhstan, around the Caspian Sea to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, rose by 4% in 2016, data released by the pipeline’s owner the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) showed. CPC’s main client is the Tengiz field in Kazakhstan. CPC’s biggest shareholders are Russia with a 24% stake, Kazakhstan with a 20.75% stake and Chevron with a 15% stake.

ENDS

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

Armenia wants Turkmen gas via Iran

JAN. 9 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenian PM Karen Karapetyan said he wanted to boost trilateral ties with Iran and Turkmenistan to potentially import Turkmen gas via Iran. Armenia has developed relations with Iran over the past few years. Iran and Turkmenistan are yet to respond to Mr Karapetyan’s proposal.

ENDS

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

Turkmenistan looks to boost oil output

JAN. 6 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan wants to attract foreign investors to help develop its North Goturdepe oil field in the Caspian Sea, media reported. The field was discovered in 2010 and has been developed by Turkmenistan. It currently produces around 68,000 barrels/day. It wants to double production.

ENDS

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

Kazakhstan’s Mangistaumunaigas to keep output steady

JAN. 6 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Mangistaumunaigas, the troubled state-owned oil producer near Zhanaozen in the west of Kazakhstan, will maintain its oil output at around 6.3m tonnes in 2017, media reported quoting CEO Bakyt Imanbaev. Mangistaumunaigas runs at a loss but the government has committed to keeping it open and maintaining jobs to avoid a repeat of the strikes in 2011 that triggered riots and the shooting dead of at least 15 protesters by police sent into quell the violence.

ENDS

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

Azerbaijan extends BP deal

DEC. 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan has extended a deal made with a BP-led consortium dubbed the ‘Contract of the Century’ to develop its biggest Caspian Sea oil fields. The extension, although expected, had been delayed by arguments between the partners and a row with the Azerbaijani government over a drop in output at the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshly fields (ACG). ACG is the lynchpin of Azerbaijan’s economy. The BP-led consortium will now develop the fields until 2050. The original deal had been due to expire in 2014.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 311, published on Jan. 6 2017)

Turkmenistan cuts gas supplies to Iran

JAN. 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan cut gas supplies to Iran, Iranian media reported quoted Iranian officials, straining what had been considered to be a budding regional relationship. In December Turkmenistan had accused Iran of owing it $2b for unpaid gas. Iran has denied this and said that the debt had been settled or was on the way to being settled. It has now said that it will sue Turkmenistan. The row is important because relations between Iran and Turkmenistan have been improving for some time, lending weight to Turkmenistan’s mission to become a regional gas powerhouse.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 311, published on Jan. 6 2017)

Turkmenistan and Iran row over $2b gas bill

DEC. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan has accused Iran of not paying $2b of debt linked to gas supplies, media reported, threatening to sour carefully crafted friendly relations between the two neighbours.

The Russian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty quoted an unnamed Turkmen official as saying that Iran still owed it $2b for gas supplied since 2012. In return the Iranian state-run Fars news agency quoted an Iranian official as saying that Turkmenistan was using the tougher winter months, when Iran needs more gas, as a weapon. The Iranian official threatened to break off commercial links with Turkmenistan.

Turkmenistan and Iran have pulled together since Western sanctions were imposed on Iran in 2012 for its alleged determination to build a nuclear weapon.

During this time Turkmenistan’s gas supplies to Iran have doubled to 10b cubic metres. Iran also imports electricity from Turkmenistan.

The payment system, though, is complicated because of a series of barter deals. Earlier this year, Turkmenistan and Iran announced a deal through which Iran would take $30b of Turkmen gas over the next 10 years in exchange for $30b of technical assistance.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 310, published on Dec. 23 2016)

China’s AIIB lends Azerbaijan’s SGC $600m

TBILISI, DEC. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) pledged to lend Azerbaijan’s Southern Gas Corridor company (SGC) $600m to finance its share of the TANAP gas pipeline that will pump gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe.

The loan heaps more cash from international institutions onto the project. Media reports said that the World Bank had also pledged $800m to the project. This follows loan deals last week from the Asian Development Bank and previously from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

Announcing its loan, the AIIB said that TANAP was a vital infrastructure project.

“This crucial upgrade of energy infrastructure between Asia and Europe will further strengthen the economy of Azerbaijan while underpinning energy security in Turkey, as well as several countries in southern Europe,” a statement quoted AIIB’s vice President and chief investment officer, DJ Pandian as saying.

The World Bank also said that TANAP was vital to support.

The total cost of TANAP is slated to be between $10b and $12b. SOCAR, Azerbaijan’s energy company, owns a 58% share in the project; Turkey’s Botas owns a 30% stake and BP owns a 12% stake.

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(News report from Issue No. 310, published on Dec. 23 2016)

Azerbaijan’s SOCAR signs deal with Lotos

DEC. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — SOCAR Trading, part of the Azerbaijani state-owned energy company, has agreed to send crude oil, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and liquified natural gas (LNG) to Poland’s Lotos Oil, media reported. Lotos Oil is listed on the Warsaw stock exchange and is the country’s second largest oil producer. This year it also bought 2m barrels of crude oil from Iran.

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(News report from Issue No. 310, published on Dec. 23 2016)