Tag Archives: hydrocarbons

Turkmenistan says to re-start gas exports to Russia

OCT. 10 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan will resume sending gas to Russia in January, Alexei Miller, the Gazprom CEO, was quoted by official Turkmen media as saying on a trip to Ashgabat, giving Turkmenistan’s Pres. Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov a much-needed political boost (Oct. 10).

Turkmen gas exports to Russia were slashed in 2014 during a row over pricing and cut altogether in 2016 during a Russian economic downturn that was triggered by an energy price collapse.

The cut hurt Turkmenistan economically and left it overly reliant on China as its only gas supply client. Its economy has also been hard hit by the drop in energy prices. The economic news coming out of Turkmenistan has been dire, with Mr Berdymukhamedov being forced to cut Soviet-era subsidies on utilities.

Mr Miller said exact details of new gas imports needed to be worked out.

“The intergovernmental agreement between Russia and Turkmenistan on cooperation in the gas sphere is valid until the end of 2018. It was paused for commercial reasons and will be renewed by the end of 2018,” Mr Miller was quoted as saying by official Turkmen media. “In this regard, we discussed the resumption of the procurement of Turkmen gas by Gazprom, which will start in January 2019.”

Analysts speculated on the timing of Russia resuming gas exports from Turkmenistan. Some said that it was linked to Russia’s efforts to dampen the increased lure of gas sales to Europe from the region.

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>>This story was first published in issue 388 of The Conway Bulletin on Oct. 17 2018

Kazakhstan to double gas exports to China

OCT.15 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s state-owned KazTransKaz and China’s PetroChina signed a 5-year deal to double Kazakh gas imports into China to 10b cubic metres of gas per year from 2019. Kazakhstan has increased its gas production this year to 41.45b cubic metres in the first nine months of the year, up 6%. Of this it will export more than a quarter.

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>>This story was first published in issue 388 of The Conway Bulletin on Oct. 17 2018

ExxonMobil makes deal in Uzbekistan

OCT. 2 (The Conway Bulletin) – US energy major ExxonMobil and Uzbekistan’s state-owned Uzbekneftegaz have entered into a new $150m joint-venture to produce base oils groups II and III at the Ferghana oil refinery, media reported. Base oils are lubricants used as grease, motor oil and metal processing fluids.

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>>This story was first published in issue 388 of The Conway Bulletin on Oct. 17 2018

Karachaganak partners agree to pay Kazakhstan $1.1b

ALMATY/OCT. 1 (The Conway Bulletin) — The partners developing the Karachagank oil and gas site, a cornerstone of Kazakhstan’s energy production, agreed to pay the Kazakh government $1.1b, settling a long-running dispute over profit sharing.

Kazakhstan will also receive an estimated $415m in extra revenue by 2037, based on the price of oil at $80/barrel, in the new profit sharing deal.

For the Karachaganak partners — Shell, ENI, Lukoil, Chevron and Kazmunaigas — and their shareholders, the deal marks the end of a dispute that could have severely undermined the project from 2015 when Kazakh officials first accused the consortium of an unfair profit sharing deal. None of the partners have yet commented on the deal.

The final $1.1b agreed fee is less than the initial $1.6b that Kazakhstan had pushed, although the additional earnings will probably take it close to that amount.

There is also a $1b long-term loan that the consortium has agreed to give to Kazakhstan to develop its regions.

The partners have also committed to spending $5b on upgrading the site to ensure that production continues.

Karachaganak is one of the most important oil and gas projects in Kazakhstan producing nearly 50% of its gas and 18% of its oil production.
This year, Kazakhstan has increased oil production by 5.3% to 60m tonnes by the end of August, the Kazakh energy ministry said earlier this month.

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>>This story was published in issue 387 of The Conway Bulletin on Oct. 1 2018

CPC oil flows will grow

SEPT. 26 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Caspian Sea Pipeline Consortium which runs a pipeline that pumps oil from northern Kazakhstan around the Caspian Sea to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk said that it was likely that volumes would rise to 65m tonnes next year from this year’s expected volume of 60-61m tonnes. Oil prices have risen to their highest level since November 2014, increasing transport volumes.
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>>This story was published in issue 387 of The Conway Bulletin on Oct. 1 2018

Putin visits Azerbaijan

SEPT. 27 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a flying visit to Baku on the eve of the CIS leaders’ summit in Dushanbe, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised relations with Azerbaijan and talked up their joint investments. He said that Russian companies had created 700 joint ventures in Azerbaijan and had invested $1.5b. Mr Putin has appeared to step up his attention to Azerbaijan over the past few months, just as Azerbaijan readies to start sending gas supplies to Europe through a new pipeline network. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is also a regular visitor to Russia.
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>>This story was published in issue 387 of The Conway Bulletin on Oct. 1 2018

China pays for Tajik section of pipeline

DUSHANBE, JAN. 31 (The Conway Bulletin) -China is funding construction work on the Tajik section of a pipeline that should culminate in more gas being imported from Turkmenistan, media reported.

Tajik news agency Asia Plus reported that work on the fourth Central Asia-China gas pipeline had stopped until China came forward with cash for the project. It quoted Tajik deputy energy minister Jamshed Shoimzoda as saying that China was now making payments.

“Certain works are currently being carried out in the Roudaki district,” he was quoted as saying.
The pipeline is important politically as it links Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. It is also important economically as it will bring in transit fees and create jobs.

Building work on the project had begun in 2014 but appeared to stall in 2015 with Uzbek officials saying that work had been suspended.

Tajikistan is hosting a 400km section of the pipeline.

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>>This story was first published in issue 360 of The Conway Bulletin

Iran-Turkmenistan gas argument worsens

JAN. 29 (The Conway Bulletin) – Iran threatened to take Turkmenistan to an international tribunal over a row about gas supplies, worsening a year-long argument between the two neighbours.

Iranian officials said that not only did they contest the value of the outstanding bill that Turkmenistan says Iran still hasn’t paid, but also that the gas Iran had received was of sub-standard quality.

“We are planning to take dispute with Turkmenistan’s state-owned gas company, Turkmengaz, over the quality of the delivered gas to an International Court of Arbitration,” Iranian news agencies quoted Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, the Iranian petroleum minister, as saying.

Turkmenistan stopped sending gas to Iran in January 2017, claiming it had not been paid for deliveries several years earlier.

Some analysts have said that Turkmenistan may be trying to squeeze more money out of Iran for gas supplies to the north of the country because its economy has been floundering. In December, Turkmenistan said that it had started preliminary arbitration proceedings against Iran for what it said was the outstanding amount owed. It did not name the arbitration court that it was targeting or just how far it had gotten with the process.

Iran has been importing gas from Turkmenistan, whose main client is China, since 1997.

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>>This story was first published in issue 360 of The Conway Bulletin

Tajikistan’s Rogun dam could open in November

FEB. 1 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s $4b Rogun dam could be opened on Nov. 16, a national holiday to mark the birthday of Pres. Emomali Rakhmon, state media reported. Rogun dam will be the highest dam in the world when it does open and is considered vital for improving Tajikistan’s electricity production. Italy’s Salini Impregilo is the main contractor for the project.

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>>This story was first published in issue 360 of The Conway Bulletin

Turkmen gas supplies to China drop

DEC. 26 (The Conway Bulletin) — Gas supplies to China from Turkmenistan fell by 7% in November although compared to the same period in 2016 volumes have still increased, Reuters reported quoting Chinese customs data.

There has been no official explanation from either Turkmenistan or China on the gas supply drop but the slump will pile extra pressure onto the already-faltering Turkmen economy.

Turkmenistan’s economy is dependent on its gas sales to China. It is China’s largest supplier, providing it with 40% of its imports. Chinese data showed that imports from Turkmenistan were 1.592m tonnes, down from 1.71m tonnes in October. This is still 11% higher than a year earlier.

Turkmenistan’s economy is already under pressure from the collapse in energy prices since 2014.

Turkmen Pres. Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has sacked ministers and other officials as he looks to shift blame. The government has also cut subsidies for utilities and reports have said that the Black Market price of the US dollar has soared against the Turkmen manat.

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— This story was first published on Jan. 5 2018 in issue 356 of The Conway Bulletin