NOV. 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Replacing leaky pipes at the Kashagan oil field in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea will cost around $3b, Reuters reported quoting a senior Kazakh official. Kashagan was to be the project that propelled Kazakhstan into the top tier of global energy suppliers instead it has run hugely over budget and time.
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(News report from Issue No. 208, published on Nov.12 2014)
OCT. 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan is considering diversifying its energy transit routes because of Western sanctions imposed on Russia, media reported. One option being considered is the Baku-Supsa oil pipeline that runs from the Azerbaijani capital to Supsa on the Georgian Black Sea coast.
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(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)
OCT. 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Chinese steelmaker Baoshan Iron & Steel Co ltd (Baosteel) said it had won a contract to supply pipes for the TANAP gas pipeline running to Turkey from Azerbaijan. The contract is significant because it means Chinese companies are competing for contracts along the South Caucasus energy transit route.
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(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)
OCT. 16 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov once again said he wanted work to begin on building a gas pipeline running across Afghanistan to Pakistan and India by 2015, media reported. The so-called TAPI pipeline is a major project designed to feed gas to India and Pakistan and give economic security to Afghanistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)
OCT. 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Norwegian energy company Statoil sold its final 15.5% stake in the Shah Deniz oil field in the Azerbaijani Caspian Sea to Malaysia’s Petronas for $2.25b.
Officially, Statoil said the sale was part of a worldwide reorganisation. For the partners in Shah Deniz, though, the sale represents yet another major shake-up of one of Azerbaijan’s biggest energy projects.
The sale is also another indicator that Western energy companies are looking to reign in investments that require large capital commitments.
In May, Statoil sold a 10% stake in Shah Deniz to BP and SOCAR and French energy company Total sold its 10% stake in the project to TPAO. For its part, Petronas has been looking to diversify its energy assets across the world.
The other shareholders in Shah Deniz are: BP (28.8% of the project); Turkey’s TPAO (19%); Azerbaijani state energy company SOCAR (16.7%); Russia’s Lukoil (10%) and National Iranian Oil Company (10%).
Clearly the diverse nature of Shah Deniz’s stakeholders makes it a complex project. Azerbaijan is also staking much of its future riches on the success of the project and Europe is hoping to pump around a fifth of its gas from Shah Deniz over the next few years.
Statoil’s deal with Petronas also included selling its stakes in the South Caucasus pipeline. It kept, though, its 8.56% stake in the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) oil field and also its 20% stake in the TAP pipeline that will pump gas from Azerbaijan to Europe.
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(News report from Issue No. 204, published on Oct. 15 2014)
OCT. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Replacing the pipes running from the Kashagan oil site in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea to the mainland could cost up to $3.6b, Reuters reported quoting an energy ministry document. Kashagan is already the world’s most expensive oil project. Production has been delayed because of leaky gas pipes.
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(News report from Issue No. 204, published on Oct. 15 2014)
OCT. 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan’s president Kurgbanguly Berdymukhamedov ended a meeting of the leaders of the countries that border the Caspian Sea by saying that it was their right to build a pipeline across the inland water, media reported.
The meeting — which included the leaders of Russia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Iran and Azerbaijan — broke up without any major deals although they did agree not to allow NATO forces into the region.
Perhaps the most important single element of the meeting, though, were reports from Astrakhan, the venue in Russia for the meeting, that appeared to push the possibility of a sub-Caspian Sea gas pipeline nearer.
This has been touted before but has never been put into action. The cost has previously been considered too great but now, with demand for energy increasing from Europe, it may make business sense to build the pipeline.
There is also the extra added consideration that most of the infrastructure needed to pump the gas on from Azerbaijan to Europe has already been built or is scheduled to be built soon.
This week Azerbaijan’s president welcomed the deputy PM of Turkmenistan to Baku. Last week the head of Azerbaijan’s energy company SOCAR was in Ashgabat. There may be some reason behind all this activity. One to watch.
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(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)
SEPT. 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Spanish natural gas provider Enagas bought a 16% stake in the TAP pipeline that will pump gas from the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea to central Europe.
The purchase of the shares, a 10% stake from France’s Total and a 6% stake from Germany’s E.ON underline how important European countries consider the project to be.
Belgium’s Fluxys also increased its stake to 19%. The other shareholders in TAP are BP, Norway’s Statoil and Azerbaijani energy company SOCAR all with 20% of the project. Swiss energy company Axpo also owns 5% of TAP.
Reuters quoted Kjetil Tungland, TAP’s managing director.
“The TAP joint venture has always been open to new strategic partners,” he said.
“Enagas … will help to enhance TAP’s strategic position as a truly European project that will transport a new source of gas to the continent’s energy markets.”
The pipeline is scheduled for completion in 2018. European countries consider it an essential piece of infrastructure development to diversify their gas deliveries away from Russia, through which most of its gas was being delivered.
The plan is for TAP to run 870km from the Shah Deniz II field in the Caspian Sea to the Turkey-Greece border. There it will connected to another pipeline called TANAP which will pump the gas through the Balkans and across to Italy. From Italy the gas can be re-distributed across Europe.
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(News report from Issue No. 202, published on Oct. 1 2014)
SEPT. 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Spanish natural gas provider Enagas bought a 16% stake in the TAP pipeline that will pump gas from the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea to central Europe.
The purchase of the shares, a 10% stake from France’s Total and a 6% stake from Germany’s E.ON underline how important European countries consider the project to be.
Belgium’s Fluxys also increased its stake to 19%. The other shareholders in TAP are BP, Norway’s Statoil and Azerbaijani energy company SOCAR all with 20% of the project. Swiss energy company Axpo also owns 5% of TAP.
Reuters quoted Kjetil Tungland, TAP’s managing director.
“The TAP joint venture has always been open to new strategic partners,” he said.
“Enagas … will help to enhance TAP’s strategic position as a truly European project that will transport a new source of gas to the continent’s energy markets.”
The pipeline is scheduled for completion in 2018. European countries consider it an essential piece of infrastructure development to diversify their gas deliveries away from Russia, through which most of its gas was being delivered.
The plan is for TAP to run 870km from the Shah Deniz II field in the Caspian Sea to the Turkey-Greece border. There it will connected to another pipeline called TANAP which will pump the gas through the Balkans and across to Italy. From Italy the gas can be re-distributed across Europe.
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(News report from Issue No. 202, published on Oct. 1 2014)
SEPT. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan increased oil exports through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline by 70% in the first eight months of the year compared to the same period in 2013, media quoted the national statistics agency as saying. BTC pumps oil from the Caspian Sea to Turkey and then on to Europe.
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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)