Tag Archives: Turkmenistan

Erdogan to visit Turkmenistan

DEC. 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan will travel to Turkmenistan on Dec. 11/12 to meet with Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, his press office said. Mr Erdogan cancelled a meeting to Ashgabat in October after a bomb attack in Ankara but this trip will take on added significance as it will be his first visit to the former Soviet Union since a row broke out with Russia over the shooting down of a fighter-jet over Syria last month.

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(News report from Issue No. 259, published on Dec. 4 2015)

Turkmen asks Iran to collaborate on Caspian issues

NOV. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a trip to Tehran, Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov proposed to his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, that the states bordering the Caspian Sea hold a high-level conference to discuss boosting the capacity of their ports. Turkmenistan is leading moves to increase trade around the Caspian Sea.

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(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

China re-jigs ownership of Turkmenistan’s gas pipeline

NOV. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — PetroChina, a subsidiary of China’s state-owned energy company CNPC, said it wants to sell a 50% stake in the Central Asia-China gas pipeline for $2.4b in order to turn a profit this year, a requirement in its government mandate.

The likely buyer of the 50% stake in the Central Asia-China pipeline is another Chinese company, state-owned China Reform Holdings, Bloomberg reported.

The ownership switch shouldn’t change operations at the pipeline, which mainly pumps gas from Turkmenistan, but its does highlight both China’s ownership of energy infrastructure in Central Asia and, also, how pressure on profits in China is having an impact in the region.

China’s economy has slowed this year, undermining commodities prices around the world and triggering a switch in policy from China across various industries. In the oil and gas sector, it plans to unbundle upstream and midstream operations, a process that will have an effect on oil and gas fields across Central Asia as well as on pipelines.

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(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

Dragon Oil says it is interested in investing in Turkmen ambitious pipeline

NOV. 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Dubai-based Dragon Oil said it was considering investing in the proposed TAPI gas pipeline project which aims to deliver gas from Turkmenistan to India, an important show of Western support for the often derided project.

As reported in the FT, Dragon Oil said it has started talks with Turkmenistan over an investment in TAPI, a pipeline that will stretch 1,700km across Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“This [discussions on TAPI] has been ongoing for a long time. But now it’s very serious, things have been signed between the countries. That’s why we have shown our interest to go in,” Faisal Rabee Al Awadhi, general manager for Dragon Oil in Turkmenistan, told the FT at an oil and gas conference in Ashgabat.

Dragon Oil didn’t say what stage its negotiations with Turkmenistan were at, how much it was considering investing or when a final decision would be made. Other, bigger, Western oil and gas companies have decided not to invest in TAPI.

Dragon Oil already operates an oil field in Turkmenistan.

Turkmenistan’s state-owned gas company Turkmengas is the project leader for TAPI, which is slated to cost $10b.

Construction is supposed to start in December but it is a controversial project. Concern over security – the route crosses territory fought over by central government forces and the Taliban – has raised serious questions over whether the pipeline will ever be built at all.

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(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

Turkmen president joins leaders at gas summit in Tehran

NOV. 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov flew to Tehran for the third Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), sometimes dubbed the OPEC of gas, taking the normally reclusive state into the mainstream.

Generally unwilling to participate in international organisations, Turkmenistan accepted an invitation from GECF to attended its forum as a guest. Mr Berdymukhamedov’s acceptance of the invitation showed that he wants to play a deeper role in shaping global energy prices and policy.

A disparate group of 12 major gas exporting countries, the GECF meets biannually to try to set the agenda for world gas prices. In contrast to OPEC, a group of oil exporting countries, it has little power to influence price or sway production plans.

Gas prices are generally indexed to oil prices.

At the Forum, Mr Berdymukhamedov also held a side meeting with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani. Russian president Vladimir Putin also attended the forum.

According to Simon Pirani, senior researcher at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, Turkmenistan’s activity at the Forum had a diplomatic, rather than commercial tone. He said Turkmenistan remain fixed to its China-centric export strategy.

“Exports to Russia will remain low, which will preserve relations with Russia, but there is not much that Turkmenistan can do in the short term to diversify its exports, especially due to its traditional policy of selling gas at the border,” Mr Pirani told the Bulletin.

GECF is a high profile, but still relatively impotent group. It aspires to hold the influence that OPEC wields but is more of a talking shop.

Members of GECF are Iran, Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. Azerbaijan, Iraq, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Norway, Oman and Peru have observer status.

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(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

Turkmenistan Airline boosts routes

NOV. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan Airlines is still considering which small aircraft to buy to service domestic routes, the company said when it filed its Q3 results. Earlier this year, Turkmenistan said that it wanted to expand its domestic air service.

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(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Turkmen President goes to Beijing

NOV. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov made a quick trip to Beijing to meet with China’s President Xi Jinping. Some analysts said the unannounced trip was intended to counter-balance a trip made earlier this month to Turkmenistan by Japan’s PM Sinzo Abe . Turkmenistan supplies gas to China.

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(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Turkmen currency falls

NOV. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A Turkmen opposition website reported that the Turkmen authorities have placed restrictions on foreign currency withdrawals. The website, chronotm.org, is well-regard. It said the Black Market rate for the Turkmen manat has dropped to between 4.20 and 4.50/$1 compared to $3.60/$1 a few days ago.

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(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Turkmenistan begins expanding giant gas field

NOV. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan will expand its giant Galkynysh gas field by around 50% over the next few years, media reported quoting Ashirguly Begliyev, head of Turkmengas, giving gas projects to India and the EU a major boost.

Galkynysh forms the core of Turkmenistan’s gas production. Its main client is China although it wants to diversify its client base. The EU has been negotiating with Turkmenistan to try and organise for gas supplies to be sent west across the Caspian Sea, through the South Caucasus, Turkey and onto Europe.

India, likewise, has been working on a project that could see gas pumped from Turkmenistan across Afghanistan to Pakistan and finally to Indian consumers.

First, though, Turkmenistan needs to boost output at Galkynysh. Almost all of its current 60bcm of gas goes to China. A proportion of the next phase of Galkynysh’s development will also travel to China, but spare capacity is being built in.

“We are in talks with a consortium of Japanese companies and have also received proposals from Korean firms and from Petrofac company,” Reuters quoted Mr Begliyev as saying on which companies may be involved with the third phase development of Galkynysh.

Importantly, too, Galkynysh is vital for Turkmenistan’s own self image. It sees itself as an increasingly important regional energy player and has been looking to pull in more clients.

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(News report from Issue No. 257, published on Nov. 20 2015)

Turkmenistan plans TAPI start

NOV. 7 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan will host the official groundbreaking ceremony for the TAPI pipeline, which will pump gas from fields in the east of the country to consumers in India, via Afghanistan and Pakistan, on Dec. 13. This is important because TAPI has been spoken of for decades.

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(News report from Issue No. 256, published on Nov. 13 2015)