Tag Archives: Kazakhstan

Tethys does deal with Kazakh investment group Olisol

NOV. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Canadian oil and gas company Tethys Petroleum said it has entered into a non-binding agreement worth around $34m with Kazakhstan-based Olisol Investments, allowing it to refinance its debt and inject cash into exploration projects.

Tethys operates oil and gas projects in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Georgia.

Olisol upped its previous offer per share from 0.16 to 0.17 Canadian dollars, for a total of 25.5m Canadian dollars. In addition, Olisol will lend Tethys $15m. Last month, an Olisol statement said that it had worked with Tethys since 2009 and that it wanted to created a fully integrated oil and gas company in Kazakhstan.

Tethys, which was close to reaching a deal with London-listed Nostrum Oil & Gas earlier in September and has also attracted interest from AGR Energy, a company owned by the Kazakh Assaubayev family, said it was happy with the deal.

“We are pleased to have reached conditional agreement with Olisol on a potentially transformational refinancing,” the company statement quoted Tethy’s CEO, John Bell, as saying.

Analysts, though, were cautious on the real value of the deal.

“There is a lot of movement around Tethys, with offers being made and later being pulled. I would remain cautious of the whole situation, until a deal is signed,” Stephane Foucaud, managing director at First- Energy Capital investment firm, told the Bulletin.

“It is still unclear what kind of securities will Olisol use as a warranty for its interim financing. In these deals debt can often be used as a weapon.”

Perhaps most importantly for Tethys shareholders is that the deal spares it from working with AGR Energy and the Assaubayev family which has a mixed reputation in Kazakh business circles.

Tethys’ share price surged in London and Toronto on the day of the announcement, although it lost ground later.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)

Kazakh President’s daughter makes online profit

NOV. 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – An investigation by a Kazakh website showed a company linked to the youngest daughter of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Aliya Nazarbayeva, is charging 2% for online payments through Kazakhtelecom.

In June, Kazakhtelecom, Kazakhstan’s largest provider of internet services, imposed a 2% charge when customers paid for its services online.

An investigation by the informburo.kz website showed that the service company Instant Payments had become the intermediary for these transactions and was the ultimate beneficiary of the 2% fee. Ms Nazarbayeva is the founder and owner of Instant Payments, informburo.kz reported. Within a day, the report had disappeared from the informburo.kz website but not before it had triggered public anger.

Typical of this anger was a comment from Vladimir P on alau.kz. “We are living a crisis, but everything goes in their large, immense pockets, not to the people,” he wrote.

Neither Ms Nazarbayeva nor Kazakhtelecom have commented. There is no suggestion of any wrong-doing.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)

Kazakh president seals deals in London

NOV. 3/4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev flew to Britain and France to sign a series of headline grabbing deals and pose for useful photo-ops.

In London, Mr Nazarbayev met with PM David Cameron and the Queen. The two sides signed 40 deals for £3b ($4.6b).

Importantly, Mr Nazarbayev’s eldest daughter Dariga, a deputy PM, accompanied him on the trip and was part of the official photo with the Queen. In Soviet and post-Soviet iconography, featuring in official photographs sends a strong signal and being photographed next to her father at an official engagement with the Queen will have boosted any presidential ambitions that Ms Nazarbayeva harbours.

In Paris, Mr Nazarbayev met with President Françoise Hollande and signed another set of deals worth over $5b, according to state media in Kazakhstan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)

Roxi output drops in Kazakhstan

NOV. 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — London-listed Roxi Petroleum said technical issues in one of its main new wells in the BNG area in western Kazakhstan have slowed production. It didn’t give any more details. In a trading update, Roxi also said it would drill a new well nearby for $8.5m to speed up the beginning of operations. Roxi showed stagnant operational results in H1 2015.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)

Air Liquide and Kazakh refineries cooperate

NOV. 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — French company Air Liquide will form a joint venture with Kazakhstan’s state-owned Kazmunaigas to increase production of industrial gases at the country’s refineries. The agreement, signed during President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s visit to France, will improve the performance of Kazakhstan’s three refineries at Atyrau, Pavlodar and Shymkent.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)

Stock market: Roxi Petroleum, KAZ Minerals

NOV. 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Stock markets saw commodities-focused companies lose terrain this week, despite a brief surge in oil prices above $50/barrel on Tuesday.

Kazakhstan-focused oil company Roxi Petroleum lost 16% in one week closing at 7.88p, perhaps driven down by technical issues slowing down its drilling operations at the BNG contract area in the western part of the country.

After peaking at 122.4p on Tuesday, mining company KAZ Minerals shares were down 8.5% to 105.7p on Friday. KAZ Minerals used to be called Kazakhmys.

In Toronto, Centerra Gold shares lost 3.5% to 7.15 Canadian dollars, continuing a 3-week slump following debates on the formation of a new government in Kyrgyzstan. The Kumtor gold mine in Kyrgyzstan is Centerra’s main asset and the company is a major taxpayer in the country. Centerra has said, though, that production at Centerra would be down this year on earlier forecasts.

A new government has now been formed in Kyrgyzstan, hopefully giving Centerra a stable partner to work with.

Shares in Bank of Georgia were down 4.5% to £19.11 on Friday.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)

Inflation spikes in Kazakhstan

NOV. 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Inflation in Kazakhstan grew by 5.2% in October, compared to the previous month, after businesses increased their prices on goods and services across the country to balance a devaluation in the value of the tenge currency. The tenge has now lost half its value against the US dollar since Feb. 2014. Year-on- year inflation now stands at 9.4%.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)

JOGMEC explores Kazakhstan

OCT. 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — State-owned Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOG- MEC) signed a deal with local authorities in Kazakhstan to explore for rare earth materials in the Karaganda and Kostanai regions. Earlier this year, the Japanese ministry of industry closed a deal to build a rare earths production facility in the north of the country. Kazakhstan holds one of the world’s largest reserves of rare earths.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)

Kazakh and Swedish telecoms form joint venture

NOV. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Swedish telecoms company Tele2 and Kazakhstan’s state-owned Altel said they will form a joint venture. The new joint venture will start operations in 2016 and will hold exclusive rights to the country’s 4G network.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)

Flydubai flies to Kazakhstan

NOV. 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Low-cost airline Flydubai launched its first flight to Astana, expanding its routes in Central Asia and the South Caucasus. Astana will be the third destination in Kazakhstan for Flydubai, a company owned by the Government of Dubai. In Kazakhstan, Flydubai already flies to Almaty and Shymkent.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 255, published on Nov. 6 2015)