Tag Archives: Turkmenistan

Gazprom has not paid for gas says Turkmenistan

JULY 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan’s oil and gas ministry accused Russia’s Gazprom of failing to pay for natural gas it has supplied it with this year, aggravating a bitter row between the two countries.

Gazprom declined to comment. “Since the beginning of 2015, Gazprom has not paid its debts to the state corporation Turkmengaz for the volumes of Turkmen gas it supplied,” the Turkmen government statement said on its website.

“Russian company Gazprom has become insolvent on its natural gas purchase-and-sale contracts due to the continued global economic crisis and economic sanctions imposed by Western nations on Russia.”

Turkmenistan and Russia have publicly rowed before. In 2014, Gazprom slashed the amount of gas it imported from Turkmenistan to 11b cubic metres (bcm). In 2015, it planned to buy 4bcm. This is a huge drop from previous purchases. In 2008, Gazprom bought 40 bcm from Turkmenistan. And the row has also sucked in other sectors.

In 2010, Turkmenistan expelled Russian mobile phone operator MTS from the country. It later re-installed it.

The drop in Russian gas purchases has forced Turkmenistan to look elsewhere for clients. China has become its biggest client and it is trying to win contracts from the European Union.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)

Turkmenistan imports trucks

JULY 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Only around 5,000 trucks with Turkish produce travel to Turkmenistan each year through the South Caucasus and the Caspian Sea because crossing Azerbaijan is too expensive, the head of the Turkish International Road Carriers Association, Fatih Sener, told local media. Around 50,000 trucks travel via Iran.

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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)

Air cargo starts to Turkmenistan

JUNE 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Cargolux, one of Europe’s largest air freight carriers, started flights to Turkmenbashi on Turkmenistan’s Caspian Sea coast, the company said. Cargolux said it would fly four times a week to Turkmenbashi. Turkmenbashi can be used as a hub for Central Asia’s Caspian Sea region.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)

Turkmen president travels to Tbilisi to talk energy policies

JULY 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – TBILISI — Turkmenistan’s President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov travelled to Tbilisi for the first time in his eight-year presidency, part of a high-profile charm offensive aimed at winning support for pumping Turkmen gas to Europe across the South Caucasus.

Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili welcomed Mr Berdymukhamedov at the Presidential Palace overlooking Tbilisi with red carpet and a guard of honour.

“Energy is one of the issues on which we cooperate closely. A Transit route from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey has a huge potential,” Georgian media quoted Mr Berdymukhamedov as saying after the meeting. said.

Mr Margvelashvili agreed.

“Our joint transit and energy projects will make it possible to transit Turkmen energy resources to the European markets,” he said.

This year momentum has built for Turkmenistan to start sending its gas to Europe across the south Caucasus. The European Union has visited Ashgabat several times to secure promises of gas supplies from Turkmenistan and Turkmen officials have set up working groups with their Azerbaijani, Georgian and Turkish counterparts on how best to pump gas to Europe.

Europe wants to reduce its dependence on Russia for energy supplies and Turkmenistan wants to widen its client base. Currently most of its gas flows east to China.

By travelling to Tbilisi for the first time since he became Turkmen president in 2007, Mr Berdymukhamedov has sent out a strong signal of his intent.

Luca Anceschi, a professor of Central Asian Studies at Glasgow University explained.

“This meeting, marking Berdymukhamedov’s first official visit to Georgia, is an important display of Turkmenistan’s policy of maintaining an open dialogue with as many potential partners as possible,” he said.

And Georgia is important because it lies on the pipeline transit route from Azerbaijan to Turkey and then into Europe. Mr Berdymukhamedov, as he clearly has acknowledged, needs Georgian support to push gas through to Europe.

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(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)

Turkmen capital opens Arkadag park

JUNE 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – To honour Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov’s 58th birthday, city authorities in Ashgabat named a new park Arkadag, which means “Protector” and is the moniker he likes to go by.

Critics of Mr Berdymukhamedov have accused him of encouraging his officials to promote a cult of personality, something that he disparaged at the start of this period in power in 2007.

Earlier this year, though, the authorities unveiled a giant statue of Mr Berdymukhamedov on a horse. Television shots have also increasingly showed him berating officials and holding court, emperor-like.

And the new Arkadag park appears to back up this image. The park’s main feature is a large white marble arch with Mr Berdymukhamedov’s portrait in its centre.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)

Turkmenistan to boost oil and gas exports

JULY 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan’s oil and gas ministry said it wants to increase the amount of processed oil and gas products it exports. Turkmenistan has been trying to increase exports of both raw natural gas and processed products.

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(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)

Japan wants more from Turkmenistan

JULY 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a meeting in Ashgabat, Japan’s economy minister Daishiro Yamagiwa said he wanted to improve relations with Turkmenistan. This is significant because it highlights Turkmenistan’s growing status as a trade partner for countries across Asia and not just for its gas clients.

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(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)

Turkmenistan to appoint TAPI consortium partners

JUNE 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan’s ambassador in Delhi, Parahat Durdyev, said that the countries developing the so-called TAPI pipeline what will pump Turkmen gas to the Indian sub-continent will choose their consortium partners by the start of September.

The Kremlin-linked Sputnik news agency quoted Mr Durdyev as saying: “By September 1, the government of Turkmenistan [is] committed to producing the final results of the selection of a consortium and the leader of the consortium.”

TAPI is one of the biggest and most ambitious energy projects in the world. Construction work hasn’t yet started on the 1,650km pipeline which will cross Afghanistan and Pakistan but international organisations such as the World Bank have said that they support the plan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

Turkmen gas will reach Europe

JUNE 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) -Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and the European Union will set up a working group to look at the best way to deliver Turkmen gas to European consumers, media reported quoting the European Commission. This is, probably, an important step forward for Turkmenistan which wants to send its gas across the Caspian Sea to Europe.

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(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

MoneyGram to operate in Turkmenistan

JUNE 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – MoneyGram International, a money wire transfer service, said that it had set up operations in Turkmenistan. MoneyGram’s entry into Turkmenistan will be boost to remittance flows which rely heavily on easy wire transfer services.

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(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)