Tag Archives: Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan to take majority control of major uranium mine

ALMATY, MAY 31 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Canada’s Cameco, the world’s largest publicly traded uranium company, said it will cut its stake in its joint venture with Kazakhstan’s state-owned Kazatomprom, giving the Kazakh government majority control over one of its biggest uranium deposits.

Under the new agreement Cameco and Kazatomprom will extend their partnership in the Inkai joint venture until 2045, although the share split will switch from 60:40 in Cameco’s favour to 60:40 in Kazatomprom’s favour.

Inkai is one of the most important uranium deposits in Kazakhstan.

Cameco’s CEO Tim Gitzel said in a statement: “The agreement advances our strategy to mitigate the risk of today’s uncertain uranium market and positions us to maximize returns when the market recovers.”

Under the plan, also welcomed by Kazatomprom chairman Askar Zhumagaliyev, Inkai will double uranium production to 4,000 tonnes and could potentially build a new uranium refinery.

In its annual report, Cameco said it was surprised by continued low uranium prices.

The deal also comes a few months after Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev hinted he wanted more state control over the uranium sector.

“It is necessary to either ensure that [Kazatomprom’s partners] meet their obligations or look into reclaiming those assets in the interests of our state,” Mr Nazarbayev said.

This is in line with policy in other sectors, such as oil and gas where Mr Nazarbayev also wants to extend control.

Kazakhstan, which is the world’s largest uranium producer, is faced with a dilemma. It needs the expertise of large uranium companies such as Cameco, France’s Areva and Japan’s Sumitomo to become a safe and reli- able hub for nuclear fuel, but it also wants to gain more control of an industry it had widely privatised in the first years after independence.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

Kazakhstan wants better Karachaganak deal

ALMATY, JUNE 2 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kazakh government has rejected a $300m settlement for a $1.6b fine it levied at the consortium of companies developing Karachaganak, the FT reported quoting Kanat Bozumbayev, Kazakhstan’s energy minister, fuelling speculation it may want to leverage a bigger stake in the project.

Mr Bozumbayev said the government had dismissed a settlement offer from the consortium.

“It has already returned the investment shareholders made, and now it will give Kazakhstan profits, so we are negotiating,” Mr Bozumbayev said.

This week, Bloomberg quoted unnamed sources as saying that Kazakhstan is seeking to increase its share in the consortium, led by Eni (29.25% stake), Shell (29.25% through BG), Chevron (18%), Lukoil (13.5%) and state-owned Kazmunaigas (10%).

Kazmunaigas gained its 10% stake in Karachaganak in 2011 after settling a lawsuit against the consortium for tax evasion and environmental damage.

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(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

Kazakh airline opens new links to Georgia

MAY 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — SkyBus, a small airline in Kazakhstan, opened additional charter flights for the summer months from eight different Kazakh cities to the Georgian resort town of Batumi, on the Black Sea coast. Batumi is Georgia’s tourist hotspot and the new air link shows how popular it is becoming with ordinary Kazakhs.

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(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

German investors present resort plan for Kazakhstan

MAY 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — German investors presented a €30b ($34b) plan for the development of Kenderli, a new resort town on Kazakhstan’s Caspian Sea shore. The plan to build a new city near Aktau, to host around 200,000 inhabitants and several thousand tourists, has been touted for years. Now a group of German companies said it is ready to fund an initial €600m ($675m) for the project. Kazakhstan is trying to boost its tourist infrastructure and has earmarked the Caspian for development.

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(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

Russia to ship oil to China, via Kazakhstan

MAY 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Nurtas Shmanov, head of Kazakhstan’s pipeline operator KazTransOil, said the company is ready to increase shipments of Russian oil to China via a Kazakh pipeline from 7m to 10m tonnes/year. Mr Shmanov said the pipeline wouldn’t need to be expanded to carry out the operation, effectively hinting that Kazakhstan could downsize its own oil exports to China.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

Kazakh businessman to sell MEGA

JUNE 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Nurlan Smagulov, one of Kazakhstan’s wealthiest businessmen, said he has found a buyer for his shopping malls in Astana and Aktobe, both under the MEGA brand. Last year, Mr Smagulov sold his MEGA shopping mall in Shymkent, in the south of the country. Mr Smagulov said proceeds from the sales will fund the growing costs for the completion of the MEGA Silk Way shopping centre in Astana.

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(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

EEU holds meeting in Kazakh capital

MAY 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — At a meeting in Astana, leaders of the Russia-backed Eurasian Economic Union delayed the establishment of a single energy market to 2025. Previously, the EEU’s plan was to roll out a barrier-free single market for oil and gas by 2024. The parties did not comment on the reasons for the delay.

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(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

Land commission dampens protests in Kazakhstan

ALMATY, JUNE 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Activists in Kazakhstan said President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s move to defer changes to the land code until next year and set up a commission to improve dialogue with ordinary people was a positive step, although frustrations over the economy still lingered.

Proposed changes to the land code, that would have given foreigners more rights to own and lease land, sparked a protest in Atyrau in April. Those protests then spread across Kazakhstan, taking on a more general anti-government flavour although the land reform issue was still a key concern.

In Kazakhstan, analysts have said, it is difficult for ordinary people to protest directly against the government. Police detained hundreds of protesters on May 21 ahead of planned anti-government demonstrations.

Instead it is easier to protest against a single issue, such as land reforms, and use this to channel grievances over a stalling economy, job losses and a currency devaluation.

At press conference in Almaty, Mukhtar Taizhan, a high profile opposition activist who has been appointed to the land reform commission, said that Kazakhstan’s society was still riven through with tension over the economy.

“The work of commission does not eliminate increasing tensions in our economy,” he said. “If we want stability, we need to change our economic politics urgently.”

Other activists interviewed by the Conway Bulletin’s Kazakhstan correspondent agreed. Saken, an activist said: “There will be no mass protests in the near future because the land commission has softened the current situation.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

Kazakhstan’s oil pipeline company grows by 2%

MAY 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Revenues for KazTransOil, Kazakhstan’s state-owned oil pipeline company, grew by 2% to 54.7b tenge ($164m) in Q1 2016, compared to the same period last year. As capital expenditures almost halved to 6.6b tenge ($20m), analysts remain confident that the company will benefit from the depreciation of the tenge in Q4 2015 and also from rising oil prices.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

Kazakh President sacks senior officials

JUNE 2 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Barely two weeks after the Kazakh authorities quashed unsanctioned protests with dozens of arrests around the country, President Nursultan Nazarbayev sacked Yerlik Kenenbayev, the Presidential Administration’s police supervisor/adviser, and Nurmakhanbet Isaev, the deputy prosecutor. Mr Nazarbayev did not explain the sackings, but analysts have said it could be linked to the May 21 protests.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)