News Roundup

News Roundup - January 28, 2008

By SRI ⋅ 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…