FEB. 15 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia and Iran agreed to build an oil pipeline running 365km from Tabriz to Eraskh, media quoted the Armenian energy minister, Armen Movsisyan, as saying. The $100m pipeline will open in 2013. Mr Movsisyan said it was important to diversify Armenia’s energy supplies.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 28, published on Feb. 21 2011)
FEB. 7 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia is considering an IPO to sell off 25% of both its state oil and gas company and the company distributing electricity around the capital Tbilisi, Reuters quoted the Georgian energy minister, Alexander Khetaguri as saying. Georgia plans to use the cash to build hydroelectric power stations.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 26, published on Feb. 7 2011)
JAN. 26 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Unconfirmed press reports say Irish police have detained former Kyrgyz energy minister Saparbek Balkibekov in Dublin. Kyrgyzstan is understood to have asked Ireland to extradite Balkibekov to stand trial for corruption and theft.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 25, published on Jan. 31 2011)
JAN. 31 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan has delayed approving plans for the second phase of the Kashagan oil field in the Caspian Sea because plans put forward by the Eni-led consortium developing it are too expensive, oil and gas minister Sauat Mynbayev said. Kashagan is due to start commercial production in 2012. The second phase would push oil production up to 1m barrels/day.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 25, published on Jan. 31 2011)
JAN. 10 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Iran’s Interior Minister, Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, said he wanted the country to establish itself as an energy transit corridor between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf, media reported. Mr Najjar made the comments during an official trip to Oman.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 22, published on Jan. 11 2011)
DEC. 15 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Chevron-led Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) agreed to double the capacity of its pipeline pumping oil from the Tengiz field in west Kazakhstan to the Black Sea. The expansion will cost $5.4b and will boost volumes to 1.4m barrels of oil a day by 2015. CPC is a key oil export route for Kazakhstan.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 20, published on Dec. 20 2010)
DEC. 14 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazmunaigas Exploration & Production (KMG EP) said it will increase spending by 15% in 2011 to $661m. The number of production drills KMG EP operates will increase to 239 from 213 and its exploration budget will double to $55m. KMG EP is traded in London. Kazmunaigas holds the controlling stake.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 20, published on Dec. 20 2010)
DEC. 15 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — A US diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks revealed how in September 2008 a gas leak forced BP to evacuate 211 workers from one of its biggest oil drilling platforms in the Azeri sector of the Caspian Sea. The cable said BP tried to limit public information of the gas leak which shut down part of production at the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 20, published on Dec. 20 2010)
DEC. 9 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan will double export duty on oil to $40/tonne from Jan. 1 2011, the Kazakh finance ministry told Bloomberg. Kazakhstan introduced a $20/tonne duty in May 2008 but ditched it in Jan. 2009 when oil prices fell sharply. It reintroduced the tax in August 2010.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 19, published on Dec. 13 2010)
DEC. 6 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) — India’s state-run Oil & Gas Corp. (ONGC) will take control of 25% of the Satpayev oil exploration block in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea by February 2011 in return for a $400m investment, news agencies quoted the Kazakh and Indian oil ministers as saying. Kazmunaigas will own 75% of the block.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 18, published on Dec. 6 2010)