JULY 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — British companies signed deals in Kazakhstan worth $1b during PM David Cameron’s two-day trip, local media reported. This was the first trip to Kazakhstan by a serving British PM. Most of the deals agreed were in the energy and mining sectors.
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(News report from Issue No. 142, published on July 8 2013)
JULY 1 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — British PM David Cameron completed a two-day trip to Kazakhstan. This was the first trip to Kazakhstan by a serving British PM and concluded with reportedly $1b worth of deals between the two countries. Human rights groups said that Mr Cameron should have done more to press concerns on Kazakhstan’s rights record.
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(News report from Issue No. 142, published on July 8 2013)
JULY 4 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Czech car-maker Skoda will start producing its saloon car the Octavia in Kazakhstan from this month, media reported, highlighting the Kazakh public’s growing demand for new cars. Skoda, owned by Germany’s Volkswagen, produces cars at a plant in Ust-Kamenogorsk, eastern Kazakhstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 142, published on July 8 2013)
JULY 1 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Consumer prices in Kazakhstan rose 0.3% in June, according to the Statistics Committee. This means that for the 12-months to the end of June inflation measured 5.9%, continuing a general price rise slow-down. Inflation for the 12 months to the end of February measured 7%.
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(News report from Issue No. 142, published on July 8 2013)
JULY 2 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — An unmanned Russian rocket crashed on take-off at the Baikonur launch site, south Kazakhstan. The rocket smashed into the empty steppe sending an orange cloud of toxic fumes into the air. Rain later dispersed the clouds but the crash raised concerns both about the safety and future of the Baikonur programme and about potential damage to the local environment.
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(News report from Issue No. 142, published on July 8 2013)
JULY 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev sacked his energy minister, reportedly because of continued delays to the Kashagan oil project, Kazakhstan’s flagship energy development. Sauat Mynbayev had been energy minister since 2007. He moves to head Kazmunaigas, the Kazakh state energy company. Uzakbai Karabalin, a technocrat, becomes the new energy minister.
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(News report from Issue No. 142, published on July 8 2013)
JULY 2 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Recognisable by its unreformed Soviet style packaging and logo, Rakhat chocolate is iconic in Kazakhstan; symbolism even laces the name. In Kazakh, Rakhat means “pleasure”.
Rakhat is a rare example of an established Kazakh retail brand and that makes its sale important.
According to a company announcement on July 2, Lotte Confectionery, a South Korean company, has agreed a deal to buy 76% of Rakhat from four shareholders for about $120m. On the Kazakh stock exchange website these shareholders were listed as Natalya Khilchuk (11% stake), BD Associates ltd (UK, 29% stake), Anatoliy Popelyushko (25.45% stake) and Sweet City LLP (12.2% stake).
The deal values Rakhat, which had sales of nearly $200m in 2012 and employs 4,000 people, at roughly $157m.
Rakhat is one of the most high profile Kazakh retail companies ever sold. This is not an oil and gas company nor a mining company, it is a chocolate maker and its sale highlights Kazakhstan’s growing appeal to consumer brands.
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(News report from Issue No. 142, published on July 8 2013)
JULY 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan disappointed India’s government by triggering its option to buy an 8.4% stake in the Caspian Sea oil field Kashagan. US energy major ConocoPhillips said last year that it was selling its stake to Indian state energy company ONGC Videsh for $5.5b. Kazakhstan, though, held the option to block this deal.
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(News report from Issue No. 142, published on July 8 2013)
JULY 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kazakh government has a decent poker face, at least when it comes to bluffing its intentions on energy deals.
For months Kazakh officials had said that they would not use their pre-emptive right to block a deal between ConocoPhillips, a US energy firm, and India’s ONGC Videsh.
ConocoPhillips had decided that it wanted to cash in its 8.4% stake in the Kashagan oil field in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea. In November last year it announced a deal to sell this stake to ONGC Videsh for $5.5b.
Kazakhstan holds the right to buy stakes in its energy fields if a foreign company wants to exit, but earlier this year government officials said they would not buy the ConocoPhillips stake. Instead, they said, they would decide between allowing India into Kashagan or letting China, an increasingly close economic partner, into the project.
China’s apparent interest now looks like a decoy.
On July 3, Lyazzat Kiinov, chairman of Kazakh state energy company Kazmunaigas, said the company would buy the 8.4% stake in Kashagan.
The deal is important for two main reasons.
It’s perhaps a coming of age for Kazakhstan which wants to retain more ownership over its energy resources. It’s also a blow for India’s energy policy. India had staked a lot on expanding into the Caspian Sea and securing a major foothold in Central Asia’s energy sector. It now has to look elsewhere.
Kazakhstan wants to become a top energy producer.
Before the sale of ConocoPhillip’s stake, the consortium developing Kashagan consisted of ENI (Italy), Total (France), ExxonMobil (US), Shell (Britain) and Kazmunaigas all with a 16.81% stake. Inpex (Japan) also owns a 7.56% stake.
After this deal, Kazakhstan will be the main shareholder.
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(News report from Issue No. 142, published on July 8 2013)
JUNE 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kazakh government is considering changing the name of its ministry for environmental protection to the ministry of environment and water resources, media reported. This is important as it underlines how vital water is for Kazakhstan and the wider Central Asia region.
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(News report from Issue No. 141, published on July 1 2013)