SEPT. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – SOCAR, Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil company, said it expects oil prices to stabilise at $40/barrel in 2017. Oil prices are crucial for Azerbaijan’s economy as it earns most of its income from oil exports. Earlier this year, after Brent prices fell below $30/barrel, Azerbaijan’s parliament formed its 2016 budget with a $25/barrel forecast.
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(News report from Issue No. 296, published on Sept. 16 2016)
SEPT. 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — British oil company BP said it expects flat oil output in Azerbaijan in 2017. BP also expects oil prices to hover around $40- 50/barrel for the next two years. In the first six months of 2016, production at Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG), Azerbaijan’s biggest oil producing field, production rose to 16m tonnes, 2% higher than in the same period in 2015.
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(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)
AUG. 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — After a failed takeover offer, Kazmunaigas will not make a new offer for its London-traded subsidiary KMG EP, Sauat Mynbayev, managing director of Kazmunaigas said. Kazmunaigas, Kazakhstan’s state-owned energy company owns 63% of KMG EP, its exploration and production subsidiary. In July, Kazmunaigas had offered $9/GDR to KMG EP minority shareholders, but minority shareholders rejected the offer, dealing a blow to the Kazakh energy company’s prestige.
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(News report from Issue No. 294, published on Sept. 2 2016)
SEPT. 2 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil company SOCAR shipped 729,000 tonnes of oil through Russia’s pipeline network in Jan.-Aug. 2016, a 22% fall compared to the same period last year. The fall is mostly due to a halt in shipments via the Baku-Novorossyisk pipeline in the Jan.-Feb. 2016, while the countries were negotiating a new deal. Monthly shipments are now back at the same levels as last year.
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(News report from Issue No. 294, published on Sept. 2 2016)
AUG. 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — After months of increasingly bitter rows, minority shareholders at London-traded KMG EP voted against selling their stakes in the company to its parent Kazakhstan’s state owned Kazmunaigas. Kazmunaigas had been looking to boost its 58% stake in the company, one of its few assets which have been doing relatively well during an increasingly tough oil-linked economic downturn. KMG EP mainly owns downstream operations which earn US dollars. These have been more profitable than many of KMG’s upstream operations.
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(News report from Issue No. 292, published on Aug. 12 2016)
JULY 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s state-owned oil pipeline operator KazTransOil said its revenues fell by 1.2% to 96b tenge ($273m) in H1 2016, compared to the same period last year. KazTransOil, part of the Kazmunaigas group of companies, also said that it transported 10% less oil in H1 2016.
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(News report from Issue No. 291, published on Aug. 1 2016)
JULY 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said it will postpone its decision to increase its stake in Holcim Azerbaijan, a cement company. The EBRD already owns a 10% stake in the company. Switzerland-based LafargeHolcim (66%), Germany’s Holcim (10%) and other private investors (14%) own the rest of the company. The EBRD said it will wait until September to take a decision.
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(News report from Issue No. 291, published on Aug. 1 2016)
JULY 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan-focused Nostrum Oil & Gas posted a 41% drop in revenues in H1 2016, compared to last year because of continued low oil prices. Production in H1 fell by 12% to an average of 38,993 barrels of oil equivalent per day. The company said that the full-year production forecast remained at an average of 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
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(News report from Issue No. 291, published on Aug. 1 2016)
JULY 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Due to sustained low oil prices, Kazakhstan’s oil production could shrink further this year, according to Asset Magauov, deputy energy minister. Mr Magauov said that a majority of the companies operating in the country reported a decline in production in 2015. The official forecast for 2016 is 75.5m tonnes, a 5% reduction compared to last year. In March, then-energy minister Vladimir Shkolnik had projected a production target of 77m tonnes for 2016.
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(News report from Issue No. 291, published on Aug. 1 2016)
AUG 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Amsterdam-based Nostrum Oil & Gas has posted lower revenues and production in H1 2016, but its share price continued to hold at around 300p because of bullish forward forecasts.
The company’s CEO Kai-Uwe Kessel said that in an era of low oil prices, cost-cutting is paramount. He also said that the company was focusing on building a small pipeline that would reduce its transport costs in 2017.
By focusing on cutting costs, however, the company seems to have been unable to regain either its production or its revenue stream from last year. Both were down by 12% and 41% respectively in H1 2016.
In the company’s statement, Mr Kessel remained confident that Nostrum’s production target will be met by the end of the year.
“We look forward to increasing production throughout the second half of the year to achieve our target 2016 production of 40,000 boepd,” he said.
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(News report from Issue No. 291, published on Aug. 1 2016)