News Roundup - November 19, 2007

Financial Times: Kazakhstan in nuclear deal with Beijing

Kazakhstan has agreed to share its uranium resources with China in exchange for equity in Chinese nuclear power facilities in a strategic deal that brings together the world’s fastest growing uranium and nuclear electricity producers…

United Press International: Analysis: Azeri-Kazakh energy cooperation

In a small but significant move, the Azeri government is reaching out to its Caspian neighbors Kazakhstan and Russia as the ongoing development there produces a financial windfall for all…

The Huffington Post: The dictator penalty

Chevron boasts of being “Kazakhstan’s largest private oil producer.” Political opposition leaders, suppressed and often jailed by President-since-1991 Nursultan Nazarbaev, charge that his corrupt regime is supported not just by direct oil income but by huge illegal kickbacks…

Voice of America: US supports diversification in Caspian oil market

The Caspian region of Central Asia is home to some of the world’s largest oil and gas discoveries in recent decades. A top U.S. diplomat says western countries are eager to expand capacity and production, and support plans to build a second pipeline in the region…

Reuters: BP to use Azeri state tankers for Kazakh crude

Azerbaijan’s state shipping company Caspar said on Friday it will begin tanker oil shipments with BP on Saturday from a Kazakh port to Iran…

ReliefWeb: Guterres wraps up fruitful first visit to Central Asia

UNHCR chief, António Guterres, has concluded his first visit to Central Asia by agreeing to boost refugee assistance in the Kyrgyz Republic and by urging Kazakhstan to play a greater role in addressing global asylum-migration issues…

Eurasia Daily Monitor: Russia-led block emerging in OSCE

Moscow is lining up the member countries of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) — Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan — in a Russia-led bloc within the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe…