Tag Archives: Turkmenistan

Editorial: Turkmenistan’s final puff

JAN. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – By all accounts, Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, the president of Turkmenistan, is a very particular man.

He likes to be a winner, making sure that he wins horse races held in Turkmenistan each year. He likes, and appreciates, statues of himself which have started appearing in Ashgabat. He likes, far more than his predecessor, foreign travel.

He doesn’t like poor performing officials and he especially doesn’t like smoking. At least that’s the impression he has given.

Mr Berdymukhamedov has taken it upon himself to eradicate smoking, it appears. According to news reports he has banned smoking in almost all public places and has stopped shops from selling cigarettes.

This is, surely, a shame as lighting up a ciggie at the end of a day is a simple pleasure that had been available in Turkmenistan, a country not known for its personal freedoms.

Still, there may be one upside for smokers in Turkmenistan. The illegal cigarette behind the bike shed may come come back in vogue.

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(Editorial from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

China gas payments fall for Turkmenistan

DEC. 30 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – China pays considerably less for the gas it bought from Turkmenistan between Jan. and Nov. 2015, compared to the same period in 2014, Chinese media reporting quoting official stats. China increased supplies from Turkmenistan by 13.8% during this period but still only paid $22.3b, 15% less than the total bill during the same period in 2014. Turkmenistan is largely reliant on China for its revenues although it is developing a gas route to India.

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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)

Azerbaijan finds two bodies in the Caspian Sea

JAN. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s emergency ministry confirmed that it had recovered two bodies from the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea thought to be those of workers washed overboard during a storm and fire on an oil rig in December. 33 workers died in the fire, the worst offshore oil rig platform disaster since the North Sea Piper Alpha fire in 1988.

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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)

GAIL wants 5% of Turkmen pipeline project TAPI

DEC. 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Indian gas distributor GAIL said it wants to buy a 5% stake in the TAPI pipeline project, two weeks after construction started on the 1,700km pipeline that will run from Turkmenistan to India. TAPI will pump 33b cubic metres of Turkmen gas to India per year, via Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is expected to come online in 2019. Turkmenistan’s state-owned Turkmengaz is the operator of the project.

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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)

Russia cuts Turkmenistan gas imports in 2016

JAN. 4 2016, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — Amid low energy prices and economic strains, Russia’s state- owned Gazprom is reshaping its gas relations with countries in the South Caucasus and Central Asia.

It is effectively buying gas from Central Asia to sell on to Europe, China and, partly, to the South Caucasus.

Gazprom confirmed it will stop gas imports from Turkmenistan and, at the same time increase purchases from neighbouring Uzbekistan to 3.1b cubic metres.

“The basis for this decision is the changed situation on the international gas market, as well as certain economic and financial issues arising from the Gazprom’s exports,” it said in a statement.

Gazprom didn’t release price details with either Turkmenistan or Uzbekistan but its statement did confirm shifting alliances in Central Asia. Previously, Russia had imported heavily from Turkmenistan. This flow, though, has fallen as relations between the two countries grew increasingly strained. Turkmenistan wants to supply Europe with gas, via Azerbaijan and Turkey, putting it in direct competition with Russia.

Last year, Turkmenistan effectively signalled that Russia had stopped paying for its gas.

But Gazprom needs to buy Central Asian gas to honour its deals with China and Europe, as well as making new deals in the South Caucasus.

Gazprom already supplies Armenia with gas and is negotiating export deals with Georgia and Azerbaijan who both need to meet domestic power consumption.

Rovnag Abdullayev, president of Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company SOCAR, met with Alexei Miller, Gazprom’s CEO, in December to discuss 2016 volumes.

“The possibility of increasing [Russian gas] supplies taking into account the prospects for growth in natural gas consumption in the country was considered,” SOCAR said in a statement.

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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)

Editorial: Turkmenistan’s pipeline

JAN. 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan completed its $2.5b East-West Pipeline, a project with a stated objective of making gas available for export.

The pipeline can transport around 30b cubic metres of gas to the Turkmen Caspian shore and it could then potentially be linked to a Trans- Caspian Pipeline which connects to another pipeline system to Europe.

But, and this is the catch, there is no plan to build a pipeline across the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan from Turkmenistan. It’s a big catch and must be causing policymakers in Turkmenistan to lose sleep.

There is neither an agreement nor funding ready for a trans-Caspian link and bringing gas to the western part of Turkmenistan doesn’t necessarily mean it will continue to Europe.

The Turkmen government hailed the East-West Pipeline as a step towards Europe, but it could be Turkmenistan’s White Elephant. The East- West Pipeline was planned and commissioned during the height of the hype of building a trans-Caspian pipeline. With low oil and gas prices, the world is a very different place today.

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(Editorial from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)

Turkmenistan launches new east-west gas pipeline

DEC. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan launched a new pipeline that will connect its gas fields in the east to the port of Turkmenbashi on the Caspian shore, a move that many consider a step towards exporting gas to Europe.

The 733km, 30b cubic metres pipeline, simply called East-West, will become the main cross-country artery for Turkmen gas, joining several other elements in the country’s existing gas infrastructure.

Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov hailed the project as a significant achievement.

“The new pipeline will give impetus to the industrialisation of the country as well as increase the potential for Turkmenistan’s gas exports to Russia, Iran and Europe,” he said at the opening ceremony.

China buys the majority of Turkmen gas production, roughly 70b cubic metres, but Turkmenistan has also started work on the TAPI pipeline that should run to India.

The biggest prize, though, is selling gas to Europe. Mr Berdymukhamedov has held talks with European officials but no deal has been struck yet. To pump gas to Europe, Turkmenistan needs to build additional pipelines.

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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)

Turkmenistan opens embassy in Italy

DEC. 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan is to open its first embassy in Italy, media reported quoting official documents. Italian oil and gas company ENI is a major investor in Turkmenistan which holds the fourth largest gas reserves in the world and aspires to exporting gas to Europe. Under President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, Turkmenistan has pursued a more active foreign policy.

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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)

Turkmen state workers receive salaries in bonds

DEC. 14/19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Sources working in Turkmenistan’s public sector told the opposition website Chronicles of Turkmenistan that from January 2016 the state will start paying part of government employees’ wages in bonds in order to save money.

A few days later, the state-run news agency confirmed the government was going to start issuing 5-year bonds, although it didn’t specify how the bonds would be distributed. It did say, though, that the main aim of the bonds was to develop Turkmenistan’s financial markets.

The Chronicles of Turkmenistan, which is a well-respect website, instead said that several government agencies would pay “12% or more of the salary” in government bonds.

Although rich in energy resources, Turkmenistan has had to adjust to the economic malaise that is pervading the Central Asian region.

The news flow from Turkmenistan is weak but there are signals that the economic downturn is hurting.

Chronicles of Turkmenistan also speculated that the cash withheld from government salaries would be used to pay for the 2017 Asian Indoors Games in Ashgabat.

In January 2015, Turkmenistan devalued its manat currency by 20%. Last month, the government allegedly banned public officials from withdrawing US dollars at exchange points.

Giving government workers bonds instead of cash effectively means deferring salary payments.

In October, the government said it would draft a plan for the sale of government companies in 2016, effectively an admission that it was running out of cash. The bond scheme is another attempt by to cut costs.

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(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)

ADB drops Tajikistan-Turkmenistan-Afghanistan rail project

DEC. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) cut funding for a railway project that would have linked Tajikistan and Turkmenistan via Afghanistan because of a deterio- ration in security.

The decision will be a blow to various infrastructure projects in Central Asia that involve Afghanistan, including the high profile TAPI gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to India and the CASA-1000 power transmission route running from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Pakistan.

“Although Turkmenistan has completed construction of its section of the railway, we would not like to construct a railway where security is not guaranteed. It’s very risky,” ADB’s country director C.C.Yu told media.

This year, the Taliban has increased its attacks in northern Afghanistan, at one point capturing the town of Kunduz near Tajikistan. Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have all warned that security is worsening although, previously, infrastructure projects have not been postponed or delayed.

The railway route in question was supposed to run over 440km and bypass Uzbekistan, often considered a troublesome neighbour by Tajikistan in particular and Turkmenistan to a lesser extent.

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(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)