Tag Archives: hydrocarbons

Russia pressured Armenia to join EEU, says parliament

APRIL 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia used its control of gas supplies to Armenia to pressure the government into joining its Eurasian Economic Union, a parliamentary inquiry has said.

The inquiry said Russia increased gas prices to Armenia until it agreed to join the Eurasian Economic Union in 2013.

The findings are strong evidence that Russia uses its economic leverage over Central Asia and the South Caucasus for political gain.

Also in the past week, Russia approved a $1 billion development fund for Kyrgyzstan. This, again, appears linked to Kyrgyzstan’s entry to the Eurasian Economic Union later this year.

The West has long said the Kremlin’s aim in the region is to coerce governments into doing its bidding.

In Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, it has found vulnerable partners. Both are relatively poor with few natural resources. They both host Russian military bases and are reliant on Russian business and remittances from workers living in Russia for growth.

Importantly too, Gazprom owns the gas pipeline network in both Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. This has often been the choke point. Controlling a country’s gas supply gives Russia huge power.

There is one other major similarity between Armenia and Kyrgyzstan regarding membership of the Eurasian Economic Union. Bulletin correspondents in both countries report that most ordinary people, and also many of the politicians, don’t really want to join the group. Instead, they feel compelled to.

Belarus and Kazakhstan, both far larger economies, are also members of the EEU.
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(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)

Kazakhstan signs deals with China

MARCH 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) –  On a trip to Beijing, Kazakh PM Karim Massimov signed deals with his Chinese counterpart, Li Keqiang, worth $23.6b. The deals covered a range of industries from steel and glass production to oil refining and hydropower. China and Kazakhstan have increased cooperation in the past few years.
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(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)

China buys Kazakh oil company

MARCH 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) –  Geo-Jade Petroleum, a Chinese energy company, said it will buy KoZhan, a Kazakh energy company, for around $350m, media reported. KoZhan is owned by the so-called Eurasian Trio of Kazakh oligarchs.
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(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)

Uzbekistan to build pipeline to China

MARCH 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) –  Uzbekistan will start building a fourth gas pipeline to China at the end of this year, Interfax news agency quoted an official from the state energy company Uzbekneftegaz as saying. The pipeline is expected to be 260km long and cost around $800m.
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(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)

Fluor Corp. wins Azerbaijan contract

MARCH 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) –  Azerbaijan has appointed the British subsidy of Fluor Corp., a US engineering company, to manage the $16.5b construction of a new oil, gas and petrochemical processing plant outside Baku, media reported.
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(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)

Ukraine wants to buy Turkmen gas

MARCH 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) –  Looking for options to boost its energy supplies and reduce its reliance on Russia, Ukraine has said that it wants to restart importing gas from Turkmenistan.

At a meeting in Kiev, Turkmen foreign minister Rashid Meredov shook hands with Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko and smiled for the cameras. The two men appeared relaxed.

Media said that Mr Poroshenko had proposed re-starting gas supplies from Turkmenistan to Ukraine, stopped in 2006.

“Ukraine is ready and interested in resuming Turkmen gas imports as an alternative source,” Interfax quoted him as saying.

This will suit Turkmenistan’s agenda. It has been looking to increase its client base and has also hit an increasingly anti-Russia note in its public proclamations over the past few years. Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov blames the Kremlin for the recent regional economic downturn. Russia and Turkmenistan have also argued about gas supplies.

The problem with the plan is that to send gas to Ukraine, Turkmenistan will have to rely on pipelines in Kazakhstan and Russia.
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(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)

EU wants gas pipeline from Turkmenistan

MARCH 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The EU wants to revive a project to build a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Europe, Reuters reported quoting an EU diplomat based in Ashgabat. Since a civil war erupted in Ukraine last year, the EU has tried to work out how to dilute its reliance on Russia for gas supplies.
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(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)

Azerbaijan’s SOCAR needs $1b to build plant

MARCH 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – SOCAR, Azerbaijan’s state energy company, said it will ask the Central Bank for a 1b manat ($925m) loan to build an oil, gas and petrochemicals plant. This is important because last year SOCAR delayed construction of the $16.5b plant because its funds had dried up.
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(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)

TAPI pipeline to cost $7.6b, says India

MARCH 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A gas pipeline that will run from Turkmenistan, across Afghanistan to Pakistan and India will cost $7.6b to build, India’s oil and gas ministry said. TAPI, as the pipeline is called, is one of the most ambitious pipeline projects in the world.
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(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)

BP says it is close to deal on TANAP pipeline

MARCH 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Giving a boost to the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline project (TANAP), BP said it was close to a deal to become one of its stakeholders.

In an interview with Reuters, Chris Schlueter, BP country manager in Georgia, said good progress on a deal had been made.

“We are very, very close,” he said. “I think (we will sign the deal) in the next two months.”

Shares in BP rose on the news.

TANAP is seen as a vital plank of the EU’s future energy policy, diversifying away from Russia. It will carry Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian Sea, across Georgia, Turkey and the Balkans to central Europe.

Analysts have said that they consider it vital that, alongside Turkish and Azerbaijani companies, BP is a major shareholder in the project.
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(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)