JULY 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company SOCAR posted a loss of 1.8b manat ($1.2b) in 2015 because of low oil prices, its first loss for over a decade. SOCAR said it will potentially turn a profit this year because of a sharp depreciation of the manat in December 2015, when the Central Bank ditched the peg to the US-dollar.
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(News report from Issue No. 288, published on July 8 2016)
JUNE 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The total cost of the new pipelines that will form the so-called Southern Gas Corridor amounts to $6.1b, according to Vagif Aliyev, head of investment at SOCAR, Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company. TANAP, which will run through Turkey, will cost $4.9b, out of which Azerbaijani companies will contribute $820m, according to Mr Aliyev. The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which will connect Turkey to Italy, has a price tag of $1.2b, and will be completed in the next three years.
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(News report from Issue No. 287, published on July 1 2016)
JUNE 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Iran and Turkmenistan have agreed a barter deal which significantly boosts their cooperation, media reported. According to Iranian media reports, Turkmenistan will export around $30b worth of gas to north Iran over the next 10 years in exchange for $30b of technical assistance. The two neighbours have been developing their cooperation over the past few years, often through barter agreements.
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(News report from Issue No. 287, published on July 1 2016)
JUNE 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – SOCAR Gas, a Turkey-based subsidiary of Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company, said it sold around 330m cubic metres of gas in Q1 2016 to the Turkish domestic market. The Turkish government decided to buy up to 1.2b cubic metres of SOCAR’s gas this year. Previously, SOCAR gas exports to Turkey were mostly destined to the Petkim petrochemical plant, in which it owns a majority stake.
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(News report from Issue No. 287, published on July 1 2016)
JUNE 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russian oil and gas company Lukoil said it will invest around $1b in its Uzbekistan projects and is looking to find South Korean banks that want to back its plans. Lukoil wants to build a gas processing plant in the country and treble its output at the Gissar gas field to 4.8b cubic metres/year by 2017. Lukoil is looking to strengthen its position in Uzbekistan, one of its core markets, ahead of a possible Eurobond issue.
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(News report from Issue No. 287, published on July 1 2016)
JUNE 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A blast at an oil storage facility in Turkmenbashi in western Turkmenistan killed seven people, local media reported. A government official later denied the report but it would be unusual for a report of this nature to be erroneous. If it is confirmed, the incident will be a blow to the reputation of Turkmenistan’s main Caspian Sea port.
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(News report from Issue No. 287, published on July 1 2016)
JULY 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Around 700 oil workers staged a two-hour strike, protesting against alleged pay cuts and job losses at the Burgylau oil service company in Zhanaozen, western Kazakhstan, the US-funded RFE/RL reported. Burgylau is linked to businessman Yakov Tskhai, who owns a majority stake in its parent company KazPet- roDrilling. In 2011, around 15 people died in Zhanaozen during clashes between striking oilmen and police.
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(News report from Issue No. 291, published on Aug. 1 2016)
JUNE 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan and Iran will build a new refinery in the Iranian Caspian Sea port of Amirabad, Golestan,specifically to process Kazakh oil for export. It is unclear how much the refinery is going to cost to build and when it will be operational but it is probably the biggest single joint venture between the two countries since many Western sanctions on Iran were lifted in January.
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(News report from Issue No. 287, published on July 1 2016)
JUNE 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – inApril, a Norwegian oil and gas service company, said it had reached a deal with Kazakhstan-based Geo Energy Group to supply it with a seismic acquisition system. The deal, worth up to $30m, according to inApril, will improve the technological footprint of Geo Energy Group, which provides seismic assessments of oil and gas basins in offshore sections of the Caspian Sea.
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(News report from Issue No. 287, published on July 1 2016)
JUNE 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Iran’s oil refining and distribution company said that it views Georgia as the best route to send its various petroleum products to Europe. Iran and Georgia have developed increasingly close economic and business relations over the past few years and there is now relatively high number of Iranian businesses and nationals living in Tbilisi. They had viewed Georgia as a potential route around sanctions.
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(News report from Issue No. 287, published on July 1 2016)