Archive for January, 2008
News Roundup - January 31, 2008
EurasiaNet: How far will Kazakhstan go as it tries to forge a new energy-export order
Victory in a dispute over the Kashagan oil field seems to have emboldened Kazakhstan’s government. Astana is now mulling the possibility of imposing an energy export duty, which, if implemented, could take a significant chunk out of foreign corporate profits…
Forbes: Kazakhmys Q4 total copper cathode production falls 7.8 pct
Kazakhmys PLC, the largest copper producer in Kazakhstan, said total copper cathode production fell 7.8 pct pct in the fourth quarter, although full-year output was in line with expectations…
Reuters: Kazakhmys Q4 copper output up 19 pct vs Q3
Copper miner Kazakhmys Plc posted a 19 percent jump in fourth-quarter copper cathode output compared to the previous quarter, when the firm was hit by flooding at a mine and processing problems…
Interfax: Kazakh police hold suspects of attack on German reporter
Kazakh police have apprehended suspects on suspicion of beating up and robbing Marcus Bensmann, a journalist of Germany’s ARD TV channel, in Astana, a source with the Astana police department told Interfax on Wednesday…
Forum 18: Secret police operation to close down entire denomination?
The KNB secret police subjected the Grace Presbyterian Church in Almaty to a 17-hour raid on 25 and 26 January. “They checked everybody and everything and confiscated all the computer hardware,” Dmitri Kan of the church’s headquarters in Karaganda told Forum 18 News Service…
The Oil and the Glory: Horelma and the Six-Foot Beauty
The British press says it has resolved the mystery of the Kazakhstan buyer of a 50-million-pound ($97 million) London mansion about two weeks ago…
Neweurasia.net: Is the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline moving ahead?
On 29 January the Russian daily Vremya Novostey published the article titled “USA offered Turkmenistan an audit”. The text was written by Arkady Dubnov, one of the best reporters when it comes to Turkmenistan. The article described the results of the recent visit of Admiral William Fallon, head of U.S. Central Command and senator Richard Lugar to Ashgabat…
Kazinfrom: Bolashak scholarship opens new horizons for Kazakhstan’s youth
A forum of the scholarship holders and graduates of Bolashak Program with the participation of Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev will take place on January 30 in Astana. Results of the 15 years’ work will be summed up there…
As reported earlier, a forum of Bolashak scholarship holders with the participation of Head of the State Nursultan Nazarbayev has been held today at «Radisson SAS» Hotel in Astana, Kazinform refers to the presidential press service…
Kazinform: US Assistant Secretary of Defense, Senator K. Sultanov met
Today chairman of the committee on international relations, defense and security of the Senate of the Kazakh Parliament Kuanysh Sultanov has met with the US Assistant Secretary of Defense Mitchell Shivers…
International Center for Journalists: Websites blocked by Kazakhstan authorities
Four Kazakh websites have been blocked by Kazakh authorities. The press freedom group Article 19 believes that the four websites were chosen because incriminating recorded conversations between Kazakh leaders were posted on the websites…
Sleaford Standard: Family uproot to Kazakhstan
Mr Wilson and his brother own an engineering company specialising in power generators and have been supplying and installing generating equipment to the developing oil industry in that part of the world…
ICFA: Citi brings DCC to Kazakhstan
Citi is now providing direct custody and clearing services in Kazakhstan. This is the seventh new market that Citi has opened in the past two years, taking its proprietary network to 51 markets…
Ferghana.ru: American Road Map plan for Central Asia
While some US senators are fighting tooth and claw for the White House, others seconded by the military make sure that the next US president will have bridgeheads in faraway countries to pursue his foreign policy in.
Lugar wrote in his letter he had interesting talk to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and first lady of the country Mehriban Aliyeva in Baku not long ago. He called Azerbaijan’s opening its oil market to foreign investors and construction of oil-gas pipelines courageous step and expressed his gratitude to Azerbaijani President…
News Roundup - January 30, 2008
CNN Money: Chevron: Tengiz oil expansion starts up with 90,000 B/D
U.S. oil major Chevron Corp. (CVX) said Tuesday its $6 billion expansion project in Kazakhstan is pumping 90,000 barrels a day and is expected to hit full capacity later this year…
Reuters: Chevron says starts Tengiz field expansion
Chevron Corp said on Tuesday its affiliate Tengizchevroil LLP has launched the first phase of expansion at the Tengiz oilfield in Kazakhstan…
Financial Times: Kookmin eyes Kazakh bank stake
South Korea’s Kookmin Bank on Tuesday said it is in talks with CenterCredit to buy a stake in the Kazakh bank in an effort to gain a foothold in central Asia…
Reuters: Kazakh watchdog says not aware of Kookmin deal
Kazakhstan’s state financial watchdog, a body supervising banking mergers, said on Tuesday South Korea’s Kookmin Bank had not approached it about buying a stake in a mid-size Kazakh bank…
Reuters: Kazakhstan may impose oil export duty
Kazakhstan may impose a duty on exports of crude and oil products from 2009, the energy minister said on Tuesday, a step likely to alarm Western oil companies and hinder its bid to join the World Trade Organisation…
CNN Money: Kazakh government: Seeks customs duties on crude, oil products
Oil-rich Kazakhstan seeks to impose customs duties on exports of crude oil and oil products by next year, Kazakh Energy Minister Sauat Mynbayev said Tuesday…
The Prime Minister of the republic of Kazkahstan, Karim Massimov, asked to fasten “MangistauMunaiGas” shares purchase from a side of JSC “NC KMG”. Such order was given by him today during a meeting of the government…
Kazinform: Uzbek gas back to Kazakhs
Uzbekistan resumed full supplies of natural gas to Kazakhstan’s south after “emergency negotiations,” state-owned KazTransGaz said Monday…
Budapest Business Journal: Heavy blow on Nabucco - analysis
South Stream likely to force other gas suppliers out of European market. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visiting Sofia and signing agreement with Bulgaria on construction of South Stream gas pipeline that will deliver natural gas of Central Asia to Europe gave echo. The European Union persists with Nabucco…
Reuters: Kazakh Alliance Bank unaudited 2007 profit up
Kazakhstan’s Alliance Bank said on Tuesday its unaudited 2007 net profit rose to 37.2 billion tenge compared to 13.3 billion tenge in 2006…
Neweurasia.net: Training in Karaganda
Last Saturday I held a training session on blogging and new media in Karaganda, the largest city in Kazakhstan after Almaty, also called a “capital of coal miners”. This city is famous for the high level of educational capacity…
Kazinform: Kazakhstan to hold a number of large international events in 2008: MFA
Kazakhstan will host a number of large international events in 2008.Foreign Affairs Minister of Kazakhstan Marat Tazhin has made it public today at the enlarged session of the Ministry’s collegium with the participation of Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Karim Massimov…
EurasiaNet: US diplomats set their sights on Turkmenistan’s Berdymukhamedov
US policymakers believe that they can convince the new president of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, to open up his country’s vast reserves of natural gas to American companies…
Gazprom has long been the bogeyman of European energy. Whenever a rival gas supplier announces a discovery or a rise in output, it fosters hopes that the Russian group’s chokehold may be on the point of loosening. But the reality is that Gazprom’s position is not that fragile…
News Roundup - January 29, 2008
Financial Times: Kazakhstan hopes for price fall, not meltdown
Kazakhstan’s economy will grow by 5 per cent in 2008 – the lowest rate this decade – as the global liquidity crisis spills over into the oil-rich central Asian republic, according to the Kazakh prime minister…
Reuters: Kookmin to buy $1 bln stake in Kazakh bank-report
Top South Korean lender Kookmin Bank is buying up to half of Kazakhstan’s No. 6 bank, CenterCredit for 1 trillion won from its top shareholders, a newspaper said on Tuesday…
CACI Analyst: Selective implementation of anti-money laundering regimes in Central Asia
Anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regimes in Central Asia are in their infancy. Several of the region’s countries still lack the basic legal and institutional tools to counter informal and illicit money flows…
CACI Analyst: Identifying priorities: Uzbek gas - for export
If in energy-importing Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, people are quite familiar with constant shortages and limits of using gas, electricity and water, one would expect that in resourceful Uzbekistan it should not be the case…
Kazinform: Kazakhstan to take part in OSCE economic-ecologic forum in Vienna
“The delegation of Kazakhstan will take part in the OSCE economic-ecologic forum in Vienna”, official spokesman of the Kazakh MFA Yerzhan Ashikbayev said today at a briefing in Astana…
EurasiaNet: Central Asia: Looking at language politics
Political shifts and economic factors are exerting considerable influence over language policies in Central Asia. Some nations, especially Uzbekistan, that just a short time ago were vigorously striving to reduce Russia’s cultural influence, are now experiencing a modest revival in the use of the Russian language, some regional experts say…
The Georgian Times: Big oil and gas game in Eurasia
Central-Asiatic countries have not been pawns in the geo-economic games for a long time. They are independent and sharp-toothed players. That is why it is hardly possible to get anything from them just for nothing. Sharp price increases for carbohydrates at the international market result in greater interest by various powers in Central Asia with its vast oil and gas sources…
“Foreign Affairs Minister of Kazakhstan Marat Tazhin and head of “ONGC Videsh Limited” company Mr. Butola will discuss a wide range of issues on further development of bilateral relations”, Yerzhan Ashikbayev underlined…
Hemscott: Caspian Holdings says 2008 started well, production strong at 9 wells
Caspian Holdings PLC said it has made a positive start to 2008 with strong production at its nine wells in its Zhengeldy field in Kazakhstan…
The Moscow Times: CIS gas cartel could come in April
Russia is planning to unite with other countries in the former Soviet Union to increase its clout in a planned OPEC-style natural gas cartel, Kommersant reported Monday…
Kommersant: “Gas OPEC” drawing closer
As a preliminary step to the formation of “a gas OPEC” out of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, Russia is preparing to create an organization of that type within the CIS. That idea was first proposed by the Russian Gas Society, a Gazprom lobbying group in the State Duma headed by MP Valery Yazev, in 2006…
Kommersant: EurAsEC returns to customs union
The interstate council of the Eurasian Economic Community met on January 25 in Moscow. Normative documents for the establishment of a customs union were considered and the prime ministers of three of the six member states signed nine documents…
TREND: 2nd Caspian Oil and Gas Trade and Transport Conference to be held in Baku
The 2nd Caspian Oil and Gas Trade and Transport Conference will be held in Baku on 23-25 April focusing on the oil and gas sphere of the region as part of the world energy sources market…
SkiRebel Magazine: Kazakhstan plans major resort development
Kazakhstan’s leading resort of Chimbulak is to be developed to international destination resort standards ahead of the country hosting the Asian Winter Games in 2011.
AgriMarket.info: Kazakhstan: customs duties on imported agricultural machines would be reduced
According to the press-service of the Ministry of Agriculture of Kazakhstan, in the beginning of February the resolution of the Government of Kazakhstan comes into efficiency, according to this resolution, the customs duties on imported agricultural machines are cancelled or reduced…
Caspian Services, Inc. announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Caspian Services Group Ltd., has taken delivery of a subsea cable deployment vessel…
The Lessons from Kazakhstan’s Real Estate Crisis
Kazakhstan has been hit hard by the recent banking and real estate crisis. Will the lessons from this crisis lead to a more developed, resilient and just economy in the future?
Background:
Kazakhstan’s GDP grew by 10.6 percent in 2006 but slowed to 8.7 percent in 2007, and according to the forecasts of local analysts, will slow even further to 6 percent in 2008. Inflation, at the same time, grew from 8.6 percent in 2006 to 18.8 percent in 2007. The main factor that led to worsened economic conditions was the local credit crisis triggered by this summer’s subprime woes in the United States and the subsequent global liquidity crunch. This crisis has hit hard Kazakhstan’s praised banking sector and exposed its reliance on cheap foreign credit and overexposure to the speculative construction and real estate sectors.
A shake-up of such magnitude was a first for Kazakhstan. Until this summer, the market has been increasing steadily, and Kazakh real estate was among the most attractive investment plays in Central Asia. The growth came after nearly a decade of stunted development following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992 and the Asian financial crisis in 1998.
With the introduction of mortgages in the early 2000’s, the real estate industry began expanding quickly, especially in the more affluent urban areas. Residents of Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan, have been particularly active and have held almost half of all outstanding mortgages in Kazakhstan. In the last two years, however, the market has clearly been showing signs of troubles lying beneath. The unprecedented pace of growth in real estate prices has started to crowd out potential middle-class homebuyers and gave way to unregulated speculation.
As the market boomed on and reached its peak in the summer of 2007, the presence of the bubble was obvious and widely discussed. But only the global credit crisis triggered by the uncertainties about the U.S. mortgage sector has finally brought the exuberant growth to a stop. The crisis and the lack of global liquidity have forced banks to make credit standards more stringent and raise interest rates. This has virtually overnight turned Kazakhstan’s speculative demand-driven real estate market into a state of near-panic, and the years of double- and triple-digit growth in real estate prices in metropolitan have come to an end. So far, the price of one square meter on Almaty’s real estate market has fallen almost a quarter from a June peak of nearly $4,000.
News Roundup - January 28, 2008
Reuters: Kazakhstan to raise Central Asian gas transit fee
Kazakhstan plans to raise its fee for the transit of Turkmen and Uzbek gas to Russia to $1.4 per 1,000 cubic metres across 100 km from $1.1, a source in state oil and gas company Kazmunaigas said on Friday…
Kazinform: The US plans to intensify energy coop with Kazakhstan
“The US intends to intensify energy cooperation with Kazakhstan,” Senior Advisor for the Caspian Basin Energy Diplomacy of the US Department of State, Ambassador Stephen Mann, has stated during the meeting with Kazakhstan’s Secretary of State Kanat Saudabayev…
TREND: The USA to support Trans-Caspian projects: US diplomat
The USA has always supported and will support new Trans-Caspian projects, said Steven Mann, the US Department of State’s Advisor for Caspian Basin Energy Diplomacy, on 25 January in Astana while answering the question of Trend Capital Special Correspondent…
World Politics Review: Kazakhstan’s economic nationalism could set precedent for other oil states
On Jan. 15, the government of Kazakhstan ended months of uncertainty in world energy markets by announcing that KazMunaiGaz, the country’s national oil and gas company, would assume a lead role in developing the Kashagan oil field, one of the world’s largest…
AsiaNews.it: Work continues in Caspian Sea oil field after deal is struck
The renegotiation of a deal covering the development of the Kashagan oil field in Kazakhstan indicates that the balance of power in the Caspian Basin energy game is tipping in favour of Kazakh authorities but also US oil giant ExxonMobil, which has replaced Eni SpA as the top partner in the foreign-dominated consortium…
PennEnergy: New consortium formed to manage Kashagan field
A new managerial consortium consisting of Eni SPA, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Total SA, and ExxonMobil Corp. has been formed to perform operational management of Kazakhstan’s Kashagan oil field, said Eni Chief Executive Officer Paolo Scaroni. He said Eni will continue to manage the test phase…
Forbes: JSC Halyk Savings Bank seeking banking licences in Georgia, Mongolia
JSC Halyk Savings Bank of Kazakhstan said it has set up a new legal entity in Georgia called JSC Halyk Bank Georgia and submitted an application for a banking licence to the National Bank of Georgia…
RIA Novosti: Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan to establish Customs Union
Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan signed a number of documents Friday outlining the legal basis for a Customs Union as agreed in Dushanbe, Tajikistan in October 2007…
China Daily: New railways to link Xinjiang with Central Asia
Construction will hopefully start this year on two railways linking China’s westernmost Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region with the central Asian nations of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, sources with the regional government of Xinjiang said…
Interfax: Kazakh parliament head praises relations with China
The chairman of the Kazakh parliament, Kasymzhomart Tokayev, has expressed satisfaction with his first official visit to China in his current capacity and has described Kazakh-Chinese relations as “increasingly stable and increasingly extensive.” …
The Independent: Party: Almaty, Kazakhstan
Almaty is Kazakhstan’s biggest city and, thanks to the petrodollars flowing through the country, it’s changing rapidly. Almaty’s Hyatt and Intercontinental hotels will be joined by a JW Marriott hotel in mid-2008, which will be the city’s tallest building, a 38-storey skyscraper on Al-Farabi Avenue, the city’s main shopping street…
Itar-Tass: PMs of Eurasian EC countries meet in Moscow
Prime ministers of the countries, integrated I Eurasian Economic Community (EURASEC), have started the discussion of priority directions of its work…
Rigzone: Kazakhstan asks Ukraine for help in developing gas fields
Kazakhstan has asked Ukraine to participate in actively developing that country’s gas fields, the press service of Ukraine’s Fuel and Energy Ministry reported…
Press of Atlantic City: In Kazakhstan, there’s no rush to democratize
Erlan Idrissov is a dour looking fellow. At first glance he could be mistaken for a Soviet-era apparatchik, which he once was. But all of that disguises a rich, wicked sense of humor that is omnipresent - except when he is asked why his country remains a repressive autocracy…
The Buffalo News: From Kazakhstan with love
Matthew and Stacey Pynn made four trips in a little over a year to the former Soviet Central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan to select and adopt the children, who were living in government “baby houses,” or orphanages…
News Roundup - January 25, 2008
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty: Corruption, Idle Promises Blamed For Mining Accidents
Two weeks after a methane explosion at the Abai mine in Kazakhstan’s central Karagana region killed 30 miners, it is still unclear why such deadly accidents continue to occur so often in the country’s mines…
Reuters: “Land of Borat” Kazakhstan shines in Oscar limelight
A Kazakh-financed film has been nominated for best foreign film at this year’s Oscars, a welcome creative boost to this central Asian country that was so heavily lampooned by the hit “Borat” movie…
Oil and Gas Eurasia: Kazakhstan to export as much crude via Russia as the pipeline system can digest
Kazakhstan plans to export as much crude through Russia as the Russian pipeline transportation system can take, with the remaining volumes to go through alternative routes, Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Karim Masimov said…
Xinhua: Chinese president meets Kazakh parliament leader
Chinese President Hu Jintao met here on Thursday with Kasymzhomart Tokaev, chairman of the Senate of Kazakhstan. Hu said China and Kazakhstan relations had developed rapidly since they forged diplomatic ties 16 years ago, and the leaders maintained close contacts and mutual understanding had increased…
Hemscott: Hambledon Mining says problems at Kazakhstan ops resolved; production on track
Hambledon Mining PLC said minor problems at Sekisovskoye gold mine and Ognevka processing plant in Kazakhstan have been resolved and that production is on track to meet the expected levels…
United Press International: Analysis: Growing Kazakh maritime trade
While most visitors to the rising petro-state of Kazakhstan are dazzled by the oil-fueled construction boom in Astana and the former capital, Almaty, an equally significant town is rising on the eastern shores of the Caspian.
Reuters: Kazakhmys 2007 sales grow despite output cut
Kazakhmys Plc., the world’s No.10 copper miner, said on Thursday its sales grew to $5.2 billion in 2007 from $5.05 billion a year earlier despite a decrease in copper cathode output…
Human Rights Watch: Kazakhstan: Investigate Attack on German Journalist
Kazakh authorities need to conduct a thorough investigation into last weekend’s attack on a German journalist and bring the perpetrators to justice, Human Rights Watch said today…
According to the chairman of the Grain Union of Kazakhstan Nurlan Tleubaev, the minimal annual revenue from grain and flour export would total 3 billion dollars. They plan export shipments in the volume of 10-12 mln tonnes from 2007 crop, and considering the current prices at the level of 250-300 USD/t, the indicated sum should be earned…
Financial Times: Aim is to become gas transit route
Azerbaijan, already a growing force on world oil markets, is carving a role for itself both as a natural gas exporter and as a strategic gas transit route linking the Caspian region with the west…
Neweurasia.net: It’s going to be fine, don’t worry…
The breakneck growth of the last couple of years has come along with heightened inflation, a real estate boom, and unprecedented credit expansion. In some sense thus, Nazarbayev is right. Cooling down the economic motor to allow for some corrections here and there was long overdue…
Financial Times: EBRD says region ‘holding up quite well’
Economic growth in eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union will slow following the upheavals in global financial markets but the region will pull through the turmoil better than most parts of the world, says the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development…
TOL: Not Another Disaster Tourist
Decades of nuclear testing left the Kazakh town of Semipalatinsk devastated by radiation poisoning. An MEP is fighting to bring dignity to its victims…
News Roundup - January 24, 2008
Eurasianet: Officials jubiulant over oil field renegotiation deal
If independent analysts are hailing the new deal as a coup, Kazakhstan’s leaders believe it represents the restoration of a genuine partnership. “Now the balance of justice has been restored,” President Nursultan Nazarbayev said in remarks broadcast by Khabar TV, adding that the agreement was a compromise that satisfied all interests…
Reuters: Kashagan row to keep Eni outside oil’s top league
Italian oil company Eni’s loss of its leadership role in the Kashagan oil field may cost it a long-held ambition to join the top tier of the oil industry and leave it reliant on Russia to avoid becoming Big Oil’s also-ran…
Reuters: Kazakhstan plans new aluminium, steel plants
Kazakhstan plans to build a new aluminium smelter and, separately, a $1.2 billion steel plant, senior industry officials said on Wednesday…
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty: German journalist severely beaten in Kazakhstan
A German journalist who was found unconscious and semi-frozen in the snow on the outskirts of the Kazakh capital on January 20 has been flown in a medically equipped aircraft to Germany for further care…
Gazeta.KZ: Economics growth rates decrease will do Kazakhstan good - Nazarbayev
Economics growth rates decrease will do Kazakhstan good. This though was expressed on the extended meeting of political council of National Democratic Party “Nur Otan” by the president of the republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, reports the agency…
Interfax: Kazakhstan could form rare metals corporation
Kazakhstan’s Industry and Trade Ministry is proposing to form a national corporation to develop the rare-earth metals industry…
Interfax: Kazakhstan’s 2007 trade up 27.3% to $78.8 Bln
Kazakhstan’s trade turnover in 2007 increased 27.3% in 2007, according to preliminary data. “Trade turnover in 2007 will amount to about $78.8 billion, an increase of roughly 27.3% over 2006, based on preliminary figures,” Industry and Trade Minister Galym Orazbakov said at a meeting of ministry officials in Astana on Wednesday…
CCTV.com: China, Kazakhstan to open land route
China and Kazakhstan are planning to set up a cooperative trade zone in Baktu, opening up an important land route connecting the two sides…
Registan.net: Big news for Kazakhstan!
Today Kazakhstan garnered its first Academy Award Nomination, for the film The Mongol, filmed during 2005 and 2006, but just released this last year at film festivals, surprisingly including Toronto’s International Film Festival…
TREND: Staff changes in Kazakhstan
Kayrat Kelimbetov, heading Kazin Fund, was appointed the Head of Kazakhstan’s Presidential Administration, said Nursultan Nazarbayev, the President of Kazakhstan, on 23 January at a meeting of the Political Council of Nur Otan Party…
Kazinform: Astana to host 17th OSCE PA session
An annual 17th session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will be held on June 28 – July 3, 2008 in the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana, Kazinform refers to the Kazakh Senate’s press service…
Kazinform: Pipeline to China starts
Kazakhstan’s oil-pipeline monopoly started to ship Russian crude through its Atasu-Alashankou link to China, KazTransOil, the crude-shipping unit of state-run KazMunaiGaz, said Tuesday in a statement…
Bangkok Post: Kazakhstan airline seeks more Thais
Air Astana, the national carrier of Kazakhstan, is embarking on an ambitious plan to strike a better balance of passenger traffic on its Bangkok-Almaty route now heavily biased toward Kazakhs…
Interfax: Samgau, Microsoft agree to advance info services in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan’s national research and technological holding company Samgau and Microsoft Corporation have signed a memorandum of understanding in developing information communication services…
News Roundup - January 23, 2008
Eurasia Daily Monitor: Kazakhstan: The challenges of the OSCE
Perhaps hoping to burnish Kazakhstan’s international image, President Nursultan Nazarbayev has called upon members of his Nur Otan party to fight corruption more actively. “Regional branches of the party must step up the purposeful fight against corruption in the localities,” he declared…
Ferghana.ru: Expert-Kazakhstan: Migration prompts economic degradation in Uzbekistan
The Uzbeks are considered the most settled nation in the Central Asia region. They would leave their homeland as a last resort. However, population outflow has significantly increased in the recent years. Those who had left the country before 1992 would hardly come back. The state in its turn tacitly fosters illegal immigration by relying on remittances sent by immigrants…
Gazeta.KZ: Kazakhstan Ambassadors to UK, Northern Ireland and Czech Republic were appointed
By the decrees signed by the president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, ambassadors to the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland and Czech Republic were appointed, as reported by the agency with reference to the press service of the president of Kazakhstan…
Kazinform: Ikea enters Kazakhstan
Ikea, the world’s largest home-furnishing retailer, plans to invest $500 million opening its first two shopping malls in Kazakhstan as economic growth fuels increased spending in the central Asian country…
Neweurasia.net: Wohnst Du noch oder lebst Du schon?
I chose a German advertising slogan as this post’s title for a lack of alternatives (well, one was: ‘Screw yourself in Kazakhstan’). Why? IKEA decided to enter the Kazakhstani market…
Registan.net: IKEA comes to Kazakhstan
IKEA, the discount Swedish retailer which furnished a swath of my apartment, is opening two stores in Kazakhstan—one in Astana, and one in Almaty…
United Press International: UPI energy watch
KazTransOil, a subsidiary of Kazakhstan’s national company KazMunaiGas, began transporting Russian oil to China along the Omsk-Pavlodar-Atasu-Alashankou route, according to Interfax…
Rigzone: Caspian spuds first well in post-salt drilling program
Caspian Energy Inc. reported that Aral Petroleum Capital LLP (”Aral”), in which the Company holds a 50% indirect interest, will spud the first exploration well, Baktygaryn #703, in its post-salt drilling program in mid-February…
TREND: Kazakh Company Increases Oil Production in 2007
The exploration production company KazMunayGas increased oil production in 2007. “The volume of production made up 10,639 tons of oil in 2007, which is 11.64% up form 2006,” a press-release stated…
Guardian Unlimited: Caspian uncertainty biggest threat to EU gas scheme
Uncertain central Asian gas supplies have emerged as the largest threat to an EU scheme to provide an alternative to Russian gas following a month-long stand-off between Turkmenistan and Iran, analysts say…
Eurasia Daily Monitor: Putin and Medvedev open the Bulgarian gate for Gazprom
Last week’s official visit to Bulgaria granted Russian President Vladimir Putin an opportunity to show that his power-transfer scheme worked impeccably, as the person standing next to him was Dmitry Medvedev, who had no business in Sofia in his official capacity as first deputy prime minister but was unofficially introduced as the next president…
Neweurasia.net: Marcus Bensmann injured in attack
German journalist Marcus Bensmann was attacked in Astana yesterday night, and is currently on his way to Germany for treatment to his serious injuries…
Earthtimes.org: German journalist injured in attack in Kazakhstan
A German journalist, Marcus Bensmann, 38, has been seriously injured in an attack in the Kazakhstan capital Astana, his relations said Tuesday as he was being flown to Germany for treatment…
Kazinform: University of West Kazakhstan region won World Bank’s grant
Agrarian Technical University named after Zhangir Khan of West Kazakhstan oblast, one of the region’s leading universities, won a grant of the World Bank with the purpose of Kazakhstan’s agro-industrial complex development…
Kazinform: Creation of 1st integrated petrochemical complex started in Atyrau
Realization of the large – scale project on construction of the first integrated petrochemical complex in Kazakhstan was started in Atyrau oblast…
Financial Times: Chief turns his attention to improving Kazakh record
As Lakshmi Mittal’s rise to global business prominence has gathered pace over the past decade, the Indian steel magnate has had a lot to smile about. But in recent days, he has been far from cheerful, in the wake of a serious accident in his company’s Kazakhstan operations that killed 30 people…
Reuters: Central Asia shivers through icy winter, shortages
With no heating and just three hours of electricity a day, Malokhat Atayeva is struggling to survive the coldest winter in three decades in her small town in western Tajikistan…
Kashagan: A Strange Victory
Interesting analysis by Dosym Satpaev, director of the Almaty-based Risk Assessment Group. The original article in Russian can be found here.
Last week, a long dispute between the Kazakh government and the Agip KCO consortium of Western oil companies came to an end. Our officials made the foreign investors an offer they could not to refuse.
As a result, KazMunaiGaz, the national oil company, increased its share in the Kashagan project from 8.33 percent to 16.81 percent. In addition, the participants discussed a $5 billion payment as a compensation for lost profits due to cost overruns and significant delays in commercial production.
All this was hailed as another great success in the government’s pursuit of public interest. But it is a strange “victory” considering that we have heroically solved problems that we brought upon ourselves in the 1990-s when hydrocarbon deposits were distributed like hot pastries at much lower prices than those that we are paying now. It has been announced that KazMunaiGas is going to pay $1.78 billion to increase its share in the consortium. That is no small sum, even if not paid at once but in three tranches once production begins.
All this would look great, if it was not for fact that in autumn 1998, Kazahstankaspishelf, the state oil company (representing the interests of the state), sold for $500 million its stake in the Kashagan project to Japanese Indonesia Petroleum (Inpex) and American Phillips Petroleum Co (7.14 percent each). Even at that time, there was discussion about the appropriateness of the transaction. And that did not only concern the low price (especially compared to $1.78 billion) but also the loss of a strategic asset. Especially since a few years after this sale, Kazakhstan paid BG, a partner who decided to exit the project in 2003, nearly $600 billion for an 8.33 percent stake in the same project. And now they are willing to pay $1.78 billion. Of course, it can be argued that the dollar devalued and the cost of the project increased. But so far, nobody has explained why there was such a hurry to sell Kazakhstan’s stake in the Kashagan project in the first place. Moreover, it’s still unclear where the $500 million went.
Ii is debatable whether all this can be called a “victory” if, in addition to strange math at the expense of national interests, nothing has been accomplished. It also should not be forgotten that the budget of the Kashagan project rose from $57 billion to $ 136 billion. Therefore, joining the new operating company, KazMunaiGaz will be required to invest heavily into the project along with the other larger investors.
Moreover, the Kashagan conflict revealed another more serious problem. Despite our ambitions to join the world’s top five exporters of oil and gas, Kazakhstan controls only 12 to 15% of its recoverable reserves of minerals. The rest, unfortunately, belongs to foreign investors. So, now we may have won one battle, but lost the entire war.
News Roundup - January 22, 2008
Money Morning: Kazakhstan squeezes the last drop out of Eni
Under the terms of a new agreement Eni S.p.A (E), the Italian oil company, will cede its control over operations at the Kashagan oil field in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan’s state oil company, KazMunayGaz, will pay $1.78 billion to double its stake in the project from 8.33% to 16.81%…
Reuters: Kazakhstan bank assets grow 32 percent in 2007
Kazakh banks’ aggregate asset growth slowed to 31.7 percent in 2007 from almost 100 percent in 2006 due to the global liquidity squeeze, the country’s financial regulator said on Monday…
Wall Street Journal: The Caspian moment
The Caspian is back on the international energy agenda. Our region, rich in oil and gas, is emerging from the Soviet past with a bang. But we still have unfinished business. Regional integration is a priority for Azerbaijan…
Gazeta.KZ: Kashagan agreement will help lessen political risks on the project - Fitch Ratings
Fitch Ratings stated that the agreement signed between Kazakhstani government and the consortium developing Kashagan oil field headed by Eni Spa (”AA-” rating/ forecast “Stable”) should help to lessen political risks about the project…
Kazakh Government adopted a law ‘On ratification of the Agreement between the Governments of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Russian Federation on cooperation in the development of an economic entity on the base of Orenburg Gas Processing Plant’…
TREND: Kazakhstan Temirjoli to increase railway prices
The company Kazakhstan Temirjoli require Government support to increase railway service tariffs by 15%. Jaksibek Kulekev, the head of the Kazakhstan Temirjoli said in a meeting of the Ministry of Transport and Communication held with the participation of the prime minister Kerim Mesimov…
The Oil and the Glory: Horelma! Horelma Peramam! Stand up and be counted
Only, who is Horelma? I’m no slouch on Kazakhstan wealth, and I’ve never heard that name. Neither have any of a multitude of friends who have emailed asking about this fellow. A Google search pulls up 2,800 listings. All of them about this land sale…
Times Online: Sale of ‘Top Whack Mansion’ is £50m record
Toprak Mansion on The Bishop’s Avenue, Barnet, sold last week for £50m, breaking a record for a newly built property which was set only two weeks ago by a nearby house called Palladio, which was sold for £35m. The name of the Toprak purchaser was given as Horelma Peramam, a billionaire from Kazakhstan…
Forbes: Poland’s Petrolinvest plans output at minimum of 5,600 bpd by end-2008
Polish oil exploration venture Petrolinvest plans to produce at least 5,600 barrels of oil per day from deposits in Kazakhstan, the company’s chief executive said, supporting its shares on a battered Warsaw equity market…
Neweurasia.net: Potential water wars
Where may we see the wars for water in Central Asia?
1. Kazakhstan vs. China – Ili river;
2. Turkmenistan vs. Uzbekistan – Amu Darya river;
3. Possibly a row of collisions can happen in the basins of Syr Darya and Chu rivers; Kazakhstan vs. Uzbekistan – at Shardara, and Kazakhstan vs. Kyrgyzstan – for Shu river waters…
The rivalry situation is deteriorating in the oil sea transportation market in the Caspian Sea, Marat Ormanov, the Director General of Kazmortransflot, said to Trend Capital in Astana on 21 January…
Eurasian Home Analytical Resources: Eurasian Economic Community - new phase of integration
The Eurasian Economic Community, set up in October 2000, constitutes an absolutely new integrationist formation with a clear-cut and up-to-date development concept. Its member states pursue economic integration as the primary goal in their relations. Economic integration undergoes 3 stages: a free trade zone, followed by a customs union and finally an integrated economic zone.
Financial Times: Arcelor Mittal in talks over Kazakh safety fears
ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steelmaker, is meeting trade union representatives on Tuesday in Brussels to address health and safety concerns in the wake of a recent accident in the company’s Kazakhstan operations that killed 30 people…
