NOV. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – BP said it had completed one-month long planned maintenance work on its Azeri, Chirag and Guneshli (ACG) on time. Azerbaijan has been pressuring BP to improve output at its ACG fields. ACG has been the main source of its oil revenues although this has flagged.
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(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
DEC. 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh PM Karim Massimov said Kazakhstan wanted to develop shale gas sites, industry website shaleenergyinsider.com reported. The website quoted Mr Massimov talking at an energy conference. If Mr Massimov acts on his statement it would mark a change in Kazakhstan’s energy policy.
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(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
NOV. 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A gas explosion in a block of flats in the city of Taldykorgan in south Kazakhstan killed at least seven people, media reported. Media quoted the emergency services as saying improper use of gas cylinders had caused the explosion. The accident highlights poor infrastructure used in Kazakhstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 211, published on Dec. 3 2014)
NOV. 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – French oil major Total expects to start gas production at the Apsheron field by 2021, media reported by quoting Eric Meyer, Total’s planning development manager. The announcement will no doubt be welcomed by Azerbaijan which wants its energy production credentials increased.
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(News report from Issue No. 210, published on Nov. 26 2014)
NOV. 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijani media reported on yet another trip to Ashgabat by the head of Socar, Azerbaijan’s oil and gas company, Rovnag Abdullayev.
Mr Abdullayev was in Ashgabat for the opening of major gas conference. It’s an important time for Azerbaijan- Turkmenistan relations because Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has agreed to sign up to a new pipeline running from Baku, the Azerbaijani capital, to Europe.
Visits by Mr Abdullayev to Ashgabat may appear fairly routine but each trip brings the two countries closer together.
Europe sees Turkmen gas as critical for reducing its reliance on Russian energy and considers the pipeline running from the Caspian Sea to central Europe to be the easiest way to supply the gas.
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(News report from Issue No. 210, published on Nov. 26 2014)
NOV. 14 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s energy transport monopoly KazTransGas regained control of its Georgian subsidiary, KazTransGas-Tbilisi. Georgia had effectively expropriated the company in 2009 over unpaid debt. KazTransGas- Tbilisi owns a 2,400km gas distribution system in Georgia.
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(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)
NOV. 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Italian energy company ENI said it had signed a deal with Turkmenistan to extend its operations in the country.
The deal is important for ENI because it has been criticised for its operations in Kazakhstan, particularly its running of the delayed and over budget Kashagan field in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea. By extending its presence in Turkmenistan, something that the company has been working on all year, ENI underlines its commitment to Central Asia.
At a signing ceremony alongside Italian PM Matteo Renzi, Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said that ENI had agreed a deal to extend one onshore production sharing agreement and three offshore exploration areas.
“We have come to a conclusion that there must be an active investment ideology present in our countries’ relations,” he said without giving any more terms of the deals.
China is Turkmenistan’s main gas client but Europe is also becoming more important. Earlier this month it signed a deal with a consortium building a pipeline from Baku to central Europe. This pipeline will deliver Turkmen gas to central Europe for the first time.
Turkmenistan is estimated to hold the world’s fourth largest gas reserves.
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(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)
NOV. 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Canadian miner Stans Energy said Kyrgyzstan was trying to revoke its licences for two rare earth mines that it owns. The row is part of a long-running dispute between Stans Energy and Kyrgyzstan. Stans Energy has said that it will quit Kyrgyzstan altogether, dealing another blow to the country’s investor image.
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(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)
NOV. 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India have set up a company to develop the so called TAPI gas pipeline that they plan to build, media reported. Establishing a company is another step towards building the 1,800km pipeline. All four countries own an equal share in the company.
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(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)
NOV. 12 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Looking to reduce the threat of sabotage, Russia’s energy ministry asked Kazakhstan to use a pipeline through Ukraine to export its crude oil.
The offer was first made in September, but was only reported by Reuters this month when the state-owned energy transport company, KazTransOil, called for local companies to participate in the bid. Although volumes have not yet been agreed, the agreement should allow Kazakh oil to run through the Druzhba (friendship) pipeline, built in 1964, whose Southern branch terminates in Hungary and the Czech Republic.
By agreeing to help fill the Druzhba pipeline, Kazakhstan is stepping directly into the ongoing civil war in Ukraine and the surrounding proxy conflict between the West and Russia.
For Russia, the benefits are fairly obvious. It wants to retain some use for the major Druzhba pipeline and would be able to charge Kazakhstan rent for using it. Russia would also reduce its risk exposure to the pipeline.
For Kazakhstan, the benefits are less obvious. Taking on the route is a major geopolitical headache.
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(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)