News Roundup - January 18, 2008

The Moscow Times: Kazakhstan’s president calls foreign missionaries a threat

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev criticized foreign missionaries on Thursday as a threat to national stability and urged lawmakers to curb their activities…

Kazinform: Shell appoints new country chairman for Shell Kazakhstan Development B.V.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc has appointed Campbell Keir as the General Manager and Country Chairman for Shell’s business activities in Kazakhstan. Keir formally took up his new role on 1 January 2008 and is based in Shell’s Astana office…

TREND: Kazakh Company Strengthens Its Role on Kashagan Oil Project: First Vice President

The role of KazMunayGas in the North-Caspian project will be strengthened, Maksat Idenov, the first vice President of KazMunayGas National Oil Company of Kazakhstan, said in talks with journalists on 17 January…

RIA Novosti: ASEAN and SCO: opportunities and perspectives of interaction

Nurlan Yermekbayev, deputy foreign minister of Kazakhstan, for RIA Novosti

According to assessments of most analysts, the Asia Pacific region will soon become the world “axis” and primary “driving force” of economic development. Today, Asia Pacific is home to over 60% of the world’s population, and its economy accounts for almost 28% of global GDP…

Warsaw Business Journal: Petrolinvest hits the jackpot with Kazakh oil contracts

Petrolinvest is sitting on top of oil reserves of more than 1 billion barrels, according to a new report by Canadian oil consultancy McDaniel & Associates…

CNW Group: Alhambra Resources Ltd. - Fourth Quarter & Year 2007 Operational Updates

Alhambra Resources Ltd. is pleased to provide an operational update for the fourth quarter and year 2007 on its Uzboy Project located in north central Kazakhstan…

Rigzone: Petrolinvest Signs 3 LOIs for Kazakhstan Assets

The Management Board of PETROLINVEST S.A. informs that, on January 10, 2008, the Company signed three letters of intent relating to the acquisition of additional assets in Kazakhstan in exchange for newly issued shares of the Company…

Eurasia Daily Monitor: Kremlin-backed security grouping exerts greater role in Eurasia

On January 11, Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha announced an initiative to convene a top-level meeting of regional organizations operating in Central Eurasia, including the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEc), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) (Interfax, RIA-Novosti, January 11)…

The Journal of Turkish Weekly: Gas row and its effect on Turkmenistan-Iran relations

The region is expected to come out of the grip of the severely cold weather within a week or so and still there are no signs of resumption of Turkmen gas supplies to Iran…