Sunday, May 22, 2011

Central Asian news this week

Kazakhstan - President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev calls on foreign investors to become 'driving power' of the modernization of the economy of Kazakhstan and encourages foreign investors to contribute actively to Kazakhstan's modernization under "Productivity 2020" programme. Kazakhstan's economy minister said on Saturday that the country plans to keep its crude export duty at $40 per tonne until 2014, promising a stable export regime for producers.

On the other hand, Kazakhstani Oil Minister Sauat Mynbayev is threatening to halt development of the Karachaganak gas field because of a dispute with foreign investors about the project’s third phase.And then the Kazakh PM said Kazakhstan will enter the foreign-led development of the Karachaganak oil field. The prime minister predicted talks on the issue to be finalized “this year”. The Kazakh government has been tussling with the foreign investors in the Karachaganak oil field – which include the BG Group, Italy’s ENI, Chevron Corp. and Lukoil – to give the state-owned oil and gas firm KazMunaiGas (KMG) a10 percent stake in the project.

Meanwhile, crude output at a Sino-Kazakh oil field in western Kazakhstan has fallen since 1,000 workers went on strike earlier this week, a company spokesman said on Wednesday. The strike action comprising half the workforce at the Karazhanbasmunai (KBM) oilfield began its third day on Wednesday. A lawyer for independent trade unions in Mangistau, Natalya Sokolova, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) on Tuesday that the workers want a removal on restrictions of trade unions’ activities as well as a pay raise. KBM is owned on a 50-50 basis by Kazakh state-owned KazMunaiGas Exploration Production (KMG EP) and China’s CITIC group, the country’s largest national investment corporation.

Uzbekistan - Russian oil and gas company Lukoil plans to hike natural gas production in Uzbekistan six-fold by 2017, a top company official said this week in the Uzbek capital Tashkent. The energy major will boost its investment in the country by 400 percent to $5 billion in order to achieve a target output of 18 billion cubic meters of gas by that date, said Andrei Kuzyayev, president of Lukoil Overseas. He also estimated that in 2015-2017 China will become a strategic market for gas supplies from Uzbekistan, which is a serious alternative to Caspian and North directions. Lukoil has invested more the $1.5 billion in Uzbekistan to date in three projects that produce a total of 3 billion cubic meters of gas per year for the company.


Articles referred to in this post:

"Глава государства предложил иностранным инвесторам активно содействовать в реализации программы «Производительность-2020»" (Nazarbayev invited foreign investors to contribute actively to Kazakhstan's modernization under "Productivity 2020" programme)

"Kazakhstan plans flat oil export duty until 2014"

"Казахстан угрожает заморозить месторождение Карачаганак" (Kazakhstan threatens to halt Karachaganak drilling)

"Казахстан войдет в нефтегазовый проект Карачаганак - Масимов" (Kazakhstan to join Karachaganak, Massimov says)

"В Казахстане бастуют нефтяники" (Oil workers strike in Kazakhstan)

"Компания "Лукойл" планирует в 4 раза увеличить объем инвестиций в нефтегазовые проекты в Узбекистане - до 5 млрд долларов" (Lukoil plans to 4-fold increase investment in oil and gas projects in Uzbekistan - up to $ 5 billion)

"ЛУКОЙЛ: Китай в 2015-2017 годах станет стратегическим рынком для поставок газа из Узбекистана" (LUKOIL: China in 2015-2017 will be a strategic market for gas supplies from Uzbekistan)

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