Tag Archives: hydrocarbons

Azerbaijan’s President puts on a brave face

JAN. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Apparently putting a brave face on an increasingly poor economic outlook, Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev said at a government meeting that the country’s GDP had actually grown last year by one percentage point. He also said that Azerbaijan needed to reduce its dependency on oil, something that most analysts have been urging for some time.

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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

China gas payments fall for Turkmenistan

DEC. 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – China pays considerably less for the gas it bought from Turkmenistan between Jan. and Nov. 2015, compared to the same period in 2014, Chinese media reporting quoting official stats. China increased supplies from Turkmenistan by 13.8% during this period but still only paid $22.3b, 15% less than the total bill during the same period in 2014. Turkmenistan is largely reliant on China for its revenues although it is developing a gas route to India.

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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)

Azerbaijan finds two bodies in the Caspian Sea

JAN. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s emergency ministry confirmed that it had recovered two bodies from the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea thought to be those of workers washed overboard during a storm and fire on an oil rig in December. 33 workers died in the fire, the worst offshore oil rig platform disaster since the North Sea Piper Alpha fire in 1988.

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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)

Service companies sign deals with Azerbaijan

DEC. 22-29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Norway’s Agility, Britain’s KCA Deutag and British-Azerbaijani joint venture SOCAR-Cape all signed contracts with BP and Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company SOCAR to provide services to off- shore energy projects in the Caspian Sea. These separate deals show Azerbaijan’s reliance on Western technology to operate and service its oil and gas projects.

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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)

GAIL wants 5% of Turkmen pipeline project TAPI

DEC. 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Indian gas distributor GAIL said it wants to buy a 5% stake in the TAPI pipeline project, two weeks after construction started on the 1,700km pipeline that will run from Turkmenistan to India. TAPI will pump 33b cubic metres of Turkmen gas to India per year, via Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is expected to come online in 2019. Turkmenistan’s state-owned Turkmengaz is the operator of the project.

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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)

Russia cuts Turkmenistan gas imports in 2016

JAN. 4 2016, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — Amid low energy prices and economic strains, Russia’s state- owned Gazprom is reshaping its gas relations with countries in the South Caucasus and Central Asia.

It is effectively buying gas from Central Asia to sell on to Europe, China and, partly, to the South Caucasus.

Gazprom confirmed it will stop gas imports from Turkmenistan and, at the same time increase purchases from neighbouring Uzbekistan to 3.1b cubic metres.

“The basis for this decision is the changed situation on the international gas market, as well as certain economic and financial issues arising from the Gazprom’s exports,” it said in a statement.

Gazprom didn’t release price details with either Turkmenistan or Uzbekistan but its statement did confirm shifting alliances in Central Asia. Previously, Russia had imported heavily from Turkmenistan. This flow, though, has fallen as relations between the two countries grew increasingly strained. Turkmenistan wants to supply Europe with gas, via Azerbaijan and Turkey, putting it in direct competition with Russia.

Last year, Turkmenistan effectively signalled that Russia had stopped paying for its gas.

But Gazprom needs to buy Central Asian gas to honour its deals with China and Europe, as well as making new deals in the South Caucasus.

Gazprom already supplies Armenia with gas and is negotiating export deals with Georgia and Azerbaijan who both need to meet domestic power consumption.

Rovnag Abdullayev, president of Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company SOCAR, met with Alexei Miller, Gazprom’s CEO, in December to discuss 2016 volumes.

“The possibility of increasing [Russian gas] supplies taking into account the prospects for growth in natural gas consumption in the country was considered,” SOCAR said in a statement.

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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)

Editorial: Turkmenistan’s pipeline

JAN. 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan completed its $2.5b East-West Pipeline, a project with a stated objective of making gas available for export.

The pipeline can transport around 30b cubic metres of gas to the Turkmen Caspian shore and it could then potentially be linked to a Trans- Caspian Pipeline which connects to another pipeline system to Europe.

But, and this is the catch, there is no plan to build a pipeline across the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan from Turkmenistan. It’s a big catch and must be causing policymakers in Turkmenistan to lose sleep.

There is neither an agreement nor funding ready for a trans-Caspian link and bringing gas to the western part of Turkmenistan doesn’t necessarily mean it will continue to Europe.

The Turkmen government hailed the East-West Pipeline as a step towards Europe, but it could be Turkmenistan’s White Elephant. The East- West Pipeline was planned and commissioned during the height of the hype of building a trans-Caspian pipeline. With low oil and gas prices, the world is a very different place today.

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(Editorial from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)

Azerbaijani businessman denies accusations

DEC. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Malta-based Oil Transportation and Shipping Services, owned by Azerbaijani businessman Mubariz Mansimov, denied any allegation of its association with the BMZ Group, owned by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s son. Russia accused the BMZ Group of smuggling oil on behalf of the Islamic State. Relations between Russia and Turkey have broken down after a Turkish fighter-jet shot down a Russian fighter-jet over Syria in November.

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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)

Turkmenistan launches new east-west gas pipeline

DEC. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan launched a new pipeline that will connect its gas fields in the east to the port of Turkmenbashi on the Caspian shore, a move that many consider a step towards exporting gas to Europe.

The 733km, 30b cubic metres pipeline, simply called East-West, will become the main cross-country artery for Turkmen gas, joining several other elements in the country’s existing gas infrastructure.

Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov hailed the project as a significant achievement.

“The new pipeline will give impetus to the industrialisation of the country as well as increase the potential for Turkmenistan’s gas exports to Russia, Iran and Europe,” he said at the opening ceremony.

China buys the majority of Turkmen gas production, roughly 70b cubic metres, but Turkmenistan has also started work on the TAPI pipeline that should run to India.

The biggest prize, though, is selling gas to Europe. Mr Berdymukhamedov has held talks with European officials but no deal has been struck yet. To pump gas to Europe, Turkmenistan needs to build additional pipelines.

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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)

ArmOil to build $35m oil refinery in Armenia

DEC. 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — ArmOil, a privately-owned Armenian oil company, will finance the construction of the first oil refinery in the country, a move that would make Armenia less dependent on Russian refined products.

The company will pay for the $35m refinery, which would be built in Yeghvard, a town 20 km north of Yerevan.

Karen Chshmarityan, Armenia’s minister of economy, said the deal will include the construction of a storage facility and a small refinery.

“At the initial stage the company will build a storage facility for 4,000 tonnes of oil products and then equip it with a laboratory, and in 2016 the company will build a small refinery,” Mr Chshmarityan said.

ArmOil, owned by a Russian-Armenian group of businessmen, was founded in 2013 and does not publicly disclose company data.

Armenia has wanted to build an oil refinery for more than a decade. From 1999 to 2007, Russian energy company Gazprom said it was considering building a refinery but the plan was scrapped.

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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)