Tag Archives: hydrocarbons

Tethys accuses Kazakhstan’s Olisol of dragging on deal

ALMATY, SEPT. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Guernsey-based oil company Tethys Petroleum is still waiting for its Kazakh partner, Olisol, to pay in its pledged investment, it said in a press release, a financial injection considered vital to keeping the company running.

Tethys, which has oil and gas assets in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Georgia, said it had only received a portion of the 9.8m Canadian dollars ($7.4m) that Kazakh oil company Olisol pledged to prop up the operations of the London and Toronto- listed company earlier this year.

“On Sept. 9, Olisol provided $2.94m working capital funds to (us) in addition to the previously announced $452,000,” Tethys said in a statement in a strong-armed tactic to force Olisol to pay more quickly.

Earlier in September, Tethys had used more belligerent language.

“[Tethys] considers Olisol to be in breach of the Investment Agreement,” it said in a note on Sept. 2.

Olisol has played down the late payment and said that it will finance the rest of the deal by pardoning part of a loan it previously gave out to Tethys.

Tethys itself said that Olisol currently owns just under 15% of the company and will own 42% once the full payment has been made.

Olisol emerged last year as a white knight for Tethys which has been in trouble since oil prices collapsed in 2014. The real beneficiaries of Olisol have not been made public but they are believed to be members of the Kazakh elite.

Tethys is also involved in legal cases that have hurt its reputation. Its stock price, though, on Thursday was up 20% at 1.5p for the week.

A court in Kazakhstan has restricted the company’s bank accounts in Kazakhstan over an unexplained case, until an appeal later this month.

In Tajikistan, where it jointly owns the Bokhtar oil field with France’s Total and China’s CNPC, Tethys is entangled in an arbitration with its partners over missed cash calls in 2015.

In August, CNPC and Total had submitted a claim for over $9m. Days later, Tethys submitted a counterclaim for $10m.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Stock market: Roxi Petrolium and Raditie

SEPT. 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Roxi Petroleum’s stock price has settled back at around 10p/share in September, after an unusual spike in early August. Roxi is a Kazakhstan focused British oil company. It operates the BNG Contract Area in Western Kazakhstan, not far from the massive Tengiz oilfield.

On Aug. 16, the company sent out an optimistic production update, saying it had drilled a new shallow well.

And on Sept. 2, Roxi announced an important shareholding change.

Dutch company Raditie, which owned 6.4% in the company sold off its entire stake. The largest portion of Raditie’s shares was bought by Bolatzhan Kerimbayev, a former deputy head of the National Security Committee.

Mr Kerimbayev is now the third-largest shareholder in the company with 4.2%. CEO Kuat Oraziman owns, directly and indirectly, 40% of Roxi. Kairat Satylganov, CFO and director, owns 24.5%.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Exxon used Bahamas-based accounts for companies operating in the Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan

SEPT. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) released previously confidential documents detailing companies linked to offshore accounts in the Bahamas, an update to the so-called Panama Papers.

The documents, obtained from the secretive Bahamas business registry, show connections between companies and intermediaries set up in the Bahamas tax haven in the Caribbean.

“There is much evidence to suggest that where you have secrecy in the offshore world you have the potential for wrongdoing” Gerard Ryle, the director of ICIJ, said in a statement.

Among South Caucasus and Central Asia-focused companies, ExxonMobil made extensive use of Bahamas-based companies for its operations in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The law firm Harry B. Sands, Lobosky & Co., based in Nassau, was the main intermediary for these accounts.

A company called Borjomi was also listed among Harry B. Sands, Lobosky & Co.’s customers. It is unclear if this company has connections with the Georgian water producer.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Kazakhstan sends Jupiter licence extension

SEPT. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Australia-based Jupiter Energy said it received an extension from the Kazakh government for its exploration licence for Block 31, in the Mangistau region. Jupiter Energy, majority-owned by Australian finance services company Computershare Clearing, bought a licence for Block 31 from local company Zher Munai in 2008 for around $9m. The renewed licence will expire at the end of 2019.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Kazakh energy company appoints new head

SEPT. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – KMG EP, the upstream branch of Kazakhstan’s state-owned oil and gas company Kazmunaigas, elected Igor Goncharov as its new chairman. Christopher Hopkinson, who had served as chairman since last year, resigned for family reasons. Like Mr Hopkinson, Mr Goncharov had long served in the ranks of Kazmunaigas. KMG EP has GDRs traded in London. Earlier this year, Kazmunaigas failed in its bid to take over more of the company.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Italian Snam to join Azerbaijan in DESFA purchase

SEPT. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Italian gas distributor Snam will participate in the purchase of a 66% stake in the Greek gas network DESFA only if Azerbaijan’s state owned energy company SOCAR remains in the deal, industry sources told the Greek newspaper Energypress. Snam did not comment. SOCAR offered to buy 66% of DESFA for €400m ($446m) in 2013, but the European Commission blocked the deal, citing its regulations on market competition.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Kazakhstan gives Ozenmunaigas a tax break

ALMATY, SEPT. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Ozenmunaigas, a loss- making subsidiary of Kazakhstan’s state-owned energy company KMG EP, was given a discount on the mineral extraction tax (MET), an important lifeline for a firm that employs over 14,000 workers in the oil-dependent west of the country.

In 2016, Ozenmunaigas will pay MET at a rate of 9%, compared to the 13% it paid last year at its Uzen and Karamandybas oil fields.

The company has lobbied the government hard for a tax break, saying that it couldn’t continue operations without what effectively amounts to state support. In 2011, a strike at Ozenmunaigas lasted months and eventually triggered clashes between police and demonstrators which killed at least 16 people. Since then, the government has prioritised keeping Ozenmunaigas in business in order to maintain social harmony.

The fields that Ozenmunaigas operates were established during the Soviet Union. Previously, company officials have said that they can only make a profit if oil prices are above $65/barrel.

This year, prices have rarely been higher than $45/barrel.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Petronas deals with Azerbaijan

SEPT. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Malaysia’s oil and gas company Petronas signed a memorandum with Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company SOCAR to develop the Goshadash offshore block. Goshadash is located in the Absheron archipelago in the Caspian Sea. Petronas is already active in Azerbaijan’s oil and gas sector, as it owns a 15.5% stake in the Shah Deniz gas field.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Kazakhstan to export gas to China

SEPT. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Rustam Suleimanov, director at Kazakhstan’s state-gas distributor KazTransGas, said that the country is ready to export gas to China from Q4 2016. Over the past few years, Kazakhstan has built up transport capacity to link its gas fields with the main Central Asia- China pipeline, which has pumped gas from Turkmenistan since 2009. Kazakhstan will use Line C of the pipeline, which has a capacity of 20b cubic metres.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Azerbaijan’s energy exports drop

SEPT. 20/21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s oil and gas exports have fallen this year, according to government sources. Gas exports for the first seven months of 2016 amounted to 4.6b cubic metres, 8.6% lower than in the same period last year, Interfax reported. Oil exports in Jan.-Aug. fell to 33.3m tonnes, down 4.2% compared to last year, government sources told Reuters. Oil exports in particular are vital for the Azerbaijani economy. With both the value and volume of oil exports dropping, government revenues have dried up.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)