AUG. 9 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Perhaps a sign that Azerbaijan’s oil production is slowing, the pipeline that pumps oil from the Caspian Sea to Turkey, BTC, recorded a 10% drop in volumes for the year to end-July, Bloomberg reported. Oil has been vital for Azerbaijan’s recent economic boom.
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(News report from Issue No. 100, published on Aug. 10 2012)
JULY 1 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – French energy company Total confirmed huge gas reserves at the Absheron field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea. Socar, Azerbaijan’s state energy company, and GDP Suez, another French company, are also shareholders in Absheron. Total said the field holds up to 300b cubic metres of gas, seven times larger than France’s annual gas consumption.
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(News report from Issue No. 095, published on July 6 2012)
JUNE 30 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen energy minister, Kakageldy Abdullayev, said Turkmenistan would pursue its claim to the disputed Kapaz oil field in the Caspian Sea with the UN, media reported. Azerbaijan also claims ownership of the field. The Caspian Sea littoral states have been locked in a long-running argument over ownership rights.
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(News report from Issue No. 095, published on July 6 2012)
JUNE 7 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Matt Bryza, the US’s former special envoy to the South Caucasus, has joined Turcas, a Turkish oil firm with close links to Azerbaijani state energy company SOCAR, media reported. Last year US Senators declined to sanction Mr Bryza’s appointment as permanent US ambassador to Azerbaijan over worries he was too close to the Azerbaijani authorities.
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(News report from Issue No. 091, published on June 8 2012)
MAY 28 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov sacked his energy minister, Bairamgeldy Nedirov, for “serious shortcomings”, media quoted the presidential office as saying. Mr Nedirov had served as energy minister since Aug. 2008. His dismissal on May 25 came two days after signing a gas deal with India and Pakistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 090, published on June 1 2012)
MAY 11 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kazakh government insisted a probe into corruption at Italian energy company ENI would not slow development of its Kashagan Caspian Sea oil field. ENI is the lead company in Kashagan, one of the biggest oil finds in the past 40 years. Last week Italian prosecutors opened an investigation into ENI’s foreign deals.
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(News report from Issue No. 088, published on May 18 2012)
MAY 9 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Chzhunnen Oil Exploration, a Chinese company, said it had found oil in southern Kyrgyzstan, raising hopes of developing a small but important energy industry. Soon after Chzhunnen said it had produced a test barrel of oil at a well, Kyrgyz leaders pledged support for further investment.
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(News report from Issue No. 087, published on May 11 2012)
APRIL 9 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Socar, Azerbaijan’s state oil company, said its oil exports through the pipeline running from Baku to Ceyhan in Turkey (BTC) dropped 7.8% in Q1 2012 compared to Q1 2011. Socar gave no reason for the oil output drop through BTC, an important energy route to Europe. In 2011 Azerbaijan’s oil production fell by 10%.
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(News report from Issue No. 083, published on April 13 2012)
MARCH 1 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – BP will boost investment in the Chirag, Azeri and Guneshli oilfields in the Caspian Sea to $3.2b this year, up from $2.6b in 2011. It also said that total investment in the Shah Deniz gas field, which BP operates with Statoil and Azerbaijani state energy company Socar, will nearly double to $1.55b.
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(News report from Issue No. 080, published on March 8 2012)
FEB. 28 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan has resumed full gas deliveries to Iran after cutting output by half last month because of the cold weather, Iran media quoted Javad Owji, the Iranian deputy energy minister, as saying. Turkmenistan is a vital gas supplier to northern Iran which is hundreds of miles from Iran’s own gas fields in the south.
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(News report from Issue No. 079, published on March 1 2012)