Tag Archives: pipelines

Putin says Russia may join TAPI gas project

MOSCOW/DEC. 21 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russian President Vladimir Putin hinted at his annual press conference that he be may be willing to support the TAPI project that aims to pump gas from Turkmenistan across Afghanistan to India and Pakistan.

Russian support for TAPI would give the project, devised and pushed strongly by Turkmenistan, a major boost. It comes at a time when Russia is mending damaged relations with Turkmenistan. Gazprom has said it will resume imports of gas from Turkmenistan for the first time since 2016.

At the televised annual press conference, Mr Putin said: “As far as we can, we will contribute to this process (building a stable Afghanistan), including by developing economic cooperation with Afghanistan, by taking part in various international projects, such as, for example, the TAPI.”

China is currently Turkmenistan’s dominant gas client.

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>>This story was first published in issue 395 of The Conway Bulletin on Dec. 23 2018

CPC oil flows will grow

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SEPT. 26 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Caspian Sea Pipeline Consortium which runs a pipeline that pumps oil from northern Kazakhstan around the Caspian Sea to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk said that it was likely that volumes would rise to 65m tonnes next year from this year’s expected volume of 60-61m tonnes. Oil prices have risen to their highest level since November 2014, increasing transport volumes.
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>>This story was published in issue 387 of The Conway Bulletin on Oct. 1 2018

Putin visits Azerbaijan

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SEPT. 27 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a flying visit to Baku on the eve of the CIS leaders’ summit in Dushanbe, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised relations with Azerbaijan and talked up their joint investments. He said that Russian companies had created 700 joint ventures in Azerbaijan and had invested $1.5b. Mr Putin has appeared to step up his attention to Azerbaijan over the past few months, just as Azerbaijan readies to start sending gas supplies to Europe through a new pipeline network. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is also a regular visitor to Russia.
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>>This story was published in issue 387 of The Conway Bulletin on Oct. 1 2018

China pays for Tajik section of pipeline

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DUSHANBE, JAN. 31 (The Conway Bulletin) -China is funding construction work on the Tajik section of a pipeline that should culminate in more gas being imported from Turkmenistan, media reported.

Tajik news agency Asia Plus reported that work on the fourth Central Asia-China gas pipeline had stopped until China came forward with cash for the project. It quoted Tajik deputy energy minister Jamshed Shoimzoda as saying that China was now making payments.

“Certain works are currently being carried out in the Roudaki district,” he was quoted as saying.
The pipeline is important politically as it links Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. It is also important economically as it will bring in transit fees and create jobs.

Building work on the project had begun in 2014 but appeared to stall in 2015 with Uzbek officials saying that work had been suspended.

Tajikistan is hosting a 400km section of the pipeline.

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>>This story was first published in issue 360 of The Conway Bulletin

TAP is on target to deliver Azerbaijani gas to Europe

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DEC. 23 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) is on target to deliver the first gas from Azerbaijan by 2020 despite protests from locals in Italy who have said that the $5.3b project will destroy ancient landscapes, Walter Peeraer, the TAP chairman, told Reuters. TAP is the final leg of a pipeline system dubbed the Southern Gas Corridor that central Europe is banking on to deliver gas from the Caspian Sea, reducing its reliance on Russia. The main gas supplier for the $40b Southern Gas Corridor is Azerbaijan’s BP-run Shah Deniz II.

— This story was first published on Jan. 5 2018 in issue 356 of The Conway Bulletin

Georgian PM flies to Ashgabat for talks

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AUG. 30 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili flew to Ashgabat for talks with Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov that focused on transit cooperation and various energy projects. Turkmenistan has become increasingly vocal about using the Caspian Sea transit route to export gas. Georgia is key stage-post on this route as it hosts pipelines running from Baku and the Black Sea port of Batumi is a major entrance into, and exit from, the region.

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(News report from Issue No. 342, published on Sept. 7 2017)

Pipeline from Turkmenistan to India to complete by 2020

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MAY 4 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Pakistan’s ministry of natural resources said that it expected the TAPI gas pipeline running from Turkmenistan to northern India to be completed on schedule in 2020. The pipeline is considered vital for Turkmenistan’s economy and also for consumers in Pakistan and India who are hungry for more power.

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(News report from Issue No. 327, published on May 5 2017)

Azerbaijan-Georgia gas corridor to complete on time

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MAY 1 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In an interview with Reuters, BP’s Georgia country manager, Chris Schlueter said that the middle section of the $40b Southern Gas Corridor would be completed on time in 2018. This is important because it indicates that the entire pipeline system, running from Azerbaijan’s Caspian Sea coast across Georgia and Turkey into the Balkans and across the Aegean Sea to Italy may be operational by 2020 as promised. The Southern Gas Corridor is supposed to reduce Europe’s reliance on gas supplies from Russia and also boost Azerbaijan’s economy.

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(News report from Issue No. 327, published on May 5 2017)

Azerbaijan BTC throughput falls

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APRIL 5 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s state oil and gas company Socar said that the amount of oil pumped through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (BTC) had fallen by more than 11% in the first three months of the year, media reported. The fall is linked to a drop in oil being produced by fields in the region, a drop triggered by the collapse in oil prices from $110/barrel in mid-2014 to under $30/barrel in Jan. 2016 and around $50/barrel now. Azearbaijan has exported less oil via BTC and Kazakh producers have turned to the cheaper CPC pipeline that runs around the Caspian Sea to Novorossiya on Russia’s Black Sea coast.

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(News report from Issue No. 324, published on April 13 2017)f

Fourth Turkmen pipeline to China is ‘cancelled’

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MARCH 6 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a major blow to Turkmenistan’s ambitions to cements itself as the region’s top gas exporter, Uzbekistan and China cancelled planned work on a fourth pipeline that was to pump gas to Chinese consumers.

The so-called Line D was quietly dropped at the beginning of the month, media reported quoting a RIA-Novosti article. In the article, RIA-Novosti quoted unnamed officials as saying a drop in demand for gas in China meant that there was no need to build an expensive fourth pipeline from Turkmenistan.

A JV between China’s CNPC and Uzbekneftegas had been created in 2014 to build the 200km section of the pipeline through Uzbekistan. Work had been due to start in H1 2016 but had been pushed back.

For Turkmenistan, the cancelling of Line D, which hasn’t been officially confirmed by Ashgabat or Beijing, is bad news. It’s economy is reliant on gas exports, and with prices low, it is floundering.

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(News report from Issue No. 320, published on March 13 2017)