Tag Archives: Kazakhstan

Cheap Russian oil products hits Kazakh producer

MARCH 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Canada-based Condor Petroleum halted oil production at its Shoba oil field in west Kazakhstan because the oversupply of cheaper Russian oil products has dented domestic production.

A fall in oil prices and the imbalanced between the Russian rouble and the Kazakh tenge are hurting foreign energy companies in Kazakhstan. “Kazakhstan is experiencing an oversupply of refined oil products, including diesel, which is causing downward pricings pressures on domestically produced diesel and on crude oil,” Condor Petroleum said in a statement.

“Currently, Kazakhstan refineries are either not operating or the offering prices are below the Company’s cost of operations.”

This is, in effect, a criticism of the Kazakh government’s determination to defend the tenge despite the imbalance with the rouble.

Earlier this month a Kazakh official said important upgrade work to Kazakh refineries would have to be postponed because Russian oil products had destroyed their profitability.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)

Sargsyan skips EEU meeting

MARCH 13 2015 (The Bulletin) – Unnerving its three partners, Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan said he would skip a meeting of the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) in Astana on March 20, media reported.

His absence from the meeting has triggered questions about Armenia’s commitment to the project which it has only just joined.

The meeting between President Vladimir Putin of Russia, President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan and President Aleksandr Lukashenko of Belarus is billed as an important one to navigate out of the financial crisis.

It had been postponed from March 13 to March 20. Kazakh officials initially said Mr Putin was too unwell to attend.

But Armenia — the fourth member of the economic group — has chosen not to attend. Armenia only joined the EEU, which morphed out of the Customs Union, on Jan. 1.

It has always been considered a supporter of Russia which it relies upon for economic and military support.

Armenia’s government didn’t explain why Mr Sargsyan would not fly to Astana for the meeting. Instead a senior official said the meeting had been organised to sort out problems which did not concern Armenia.

Perhaps, but it has created noise around Armenia’s potential unhappiness around the state of the region’s finances so much so that the Kremlin was bounced into releasing a press statement which said that Mr Putin and Mr Sargsyan had shared a telephone conversation during which the Russian leader had been reassured of Armenia’s good intentions.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)

Putin to head to Astana summit

MARCH 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russian President Vladimir Putin is heading to Central Asia for his first overseas trip since re-emerging into public view.

He is due to fly to Astana for a summit with his Kazakh and Belarusian counterparts on March 20.

The meeting was postponed from March 13. Kazakh officials at first said that the meeting had been delayed because Mr Putin was ill. Russian officials denied this, keeping people guessing on just why he cancelled several appointments and disappeared for a few days without explanation.

And Central Asia has played a prominent role in the episode. Mr Putin used a brief video with visiting Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev on March 16 to show the world that he was not hiding. He previous public appearance had been on March 5.

The summit with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has also stirred controversy, although this time not by Mr Putin.

It appeared to be a meeting of the heads of state of the Eurasian Economic Union members, except that the group’s newest member, Armenia, was missing.

This set off rumours that Armenia had grown increasingly disinterested in the Russia-led group since joining in January, especially given the context of the increasingly painful economic downturn.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has had to step in and reassure both Russia and the general public that this was not the case. Instead, he said, the meeting just didn’t include Armenia.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)

Putin due to fly to Astana

MARCH 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russian president Vladimir Putin is due to fly to Astana on March 20 for a meeting with his Kazakh and Belarusian counterparts, his first overseas trip since he disappeared from public view for a few days. Mr Putin’s disappearance sparked speculation that he was ill.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)

Kazakh court convicts 3 policemen of torture

MARCH 18 2015 (The Bulletin) – A court in Aktobe, west Kazakhstan, convicted three police officers of torturing a robbery suspect, media reported. The sentence is a rare victory for rights activists who say torture is used by Kazakh police to extract confessions.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)

Kazakhs expect devaluation

MARCH 18 2015 (The Bulletin) – Ordinary Kazakhs have lost faith in the Central Bank and are expecting a tenge devaluation, media quoted Halyk Bank CEO, Umut Shayakhmetova as saying. She said the proportion of savings held in foreign currency had now risen to 70%. The Central Bank has promised not to devalue the tenge.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)

Shell says Kashagan may be delayed until 2017

MARCH 13 2015 (The Bulletin) – Kashagan, the giant oil field in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea which was supposed to lift Kazakhstan into the top tier of global energy producers, may not resume output until 2017, the Shell energy company said.

This is, effectively, a six month delay to the schedule Kazakh officials have been promoting. Kazakh officials had talked up 2016 as the re-start date.

“Replacement activities are ongoing, with production expected to restart in 2017,” Shell said in its annual report.

Shell owns a 16.8% stake in Kashagan.

It has reliable information on how essential maintenance is progressing.

Kashagan has turned into one of the biggest white elephants in global energy history. It was supposed to be operational by 2013 but leaky pipes were discovered shortly after output started at the multi-billion-dollar project.

Other Kashagan shareholders include Italy’s ENI, the US’ Exxon, France’s Total, China’s CNPC, and Kazakhstan’s KazMunaiGaz.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)

Kazakhstan may delay modernising refineries

MARCH 13 2015 (The Bulletin) – Kazakhstan may delay modernisation work at its three refineries until 2016 because a cut in the price of rival Russian oil products has knocked their profitability, Yerlan Koibagarov, down-stream director at Kazakh state energy company KazMunaiGaz, was quoted by media as saying.

Upgrade work to the refineries is considered essential in the long run to boost output and guarantee the quality of Kazakhstan’s domestically produced oil products. Demand for oil has soared over the last few years, while output hasn’t been able to keep up.

“If this trend continues I really don’t know if we will have enough monetary funds for the modernisation or not,” the government-owned Astana Times newspaper quoted Mr Koibagarov as saying. “Maybe we will have to prolong the term.”

At the beginning of this month, Kazakhstan slapped a 45 day ban on the import of oil products from Russia. The problem is that the value of the rouble has dropped by around half over the past six months, while the Kazakh Central Bank has tried to maintain the value of the tenge. Global oil prices have also plunged.

Refineries and oil products are an important issue in Kazakhstan.

To head off general discontent about the lack of petrol, the Kazakh government has made self-sufficiency for oil products a major plank of their policies.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)

Halyk Bank profit rises

MARCH 17 2015 (The Bulletin) – Halyk Bank, one of Kazakhstan’s largest banks, posted a 58% increase in net profit in 2014 mainly due to a reduction in bad debt. This is good news for Kazakhstan’s banking sector which has been battling to reduce its proportion of bad debt.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)

Kazagy issues profit warning

MARCH 17 2015 (The Bulletin) – London-listed Kazakh packaging company Kazgazy issued a profit warning and said sales in Q1 were down 18% on Q1 2014. Kazagy blamed the fall in the value of the Russian rouble and said it will be forced to cut jobs and implement other cost savings.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)