Kazakhstan Considers Crude Export Tax

April 7, 2008By Andy RowellBlog Post

Kazakhstan is making the international oil majors twitchy by saying it may impose a crude oil export duty as soon as mid-2008 to stabilise supplies on the domestic market. According to the Deputy Energy Minister Lyazzat Kiinov, the government is due to discuss the energy ministry’s draft proposals tomorrow, and set a date for sometime … Read More

Kazakhstan Renegotiates Oil Deal

December 21, 2007By Andy RowellBlog Post

Platform, the oil industry watchdog, is today publishing a report that argues that Kazakhstan is missing out on up to $20bn of revenues over the next decade as a result of the problems at the vast Kashagan oilfield. Kazakhstan agreed surprisingly generous terms in its 1997 contract with international oil companies for developing the field, … Read More

Kazakhstan Fines Chevron Consortium

October 4, 2007By Andy RowellBlog Post

Kazakhstan has imposed a fine of more than half a billion dollars on an oil consortium led by Chevron, in a move that threatens to worsen the investment climate in the resources-rich Central Asian republic. The fine for ecological violation at the Tengiz oilfield comes after the Kazakh government imposed a fine and stopped work … Read More

Kazakhstan renegotiating contract for Caspian oil

August 28, 2007By Andy RowellBlog Post

On Monday, the Moscow Times ran a story on one of the most watched projects in the Caspian region. Kashagan, an offshore oil project in the Kazakh sector of the Caspian Sea, is the largest oil field to have been discovered anywhere in the last 30 years, with an estimated 38 billion barrels of oil. … Read More

China Increases Hold On Kazakh Oil

August 21, 2007By Andy RowellBlog Post 2 Comments

China is undertaking a buying spree of oil and gas assets in oil rich Kazachstan. A year and a half ago, China’s state oil company CNPC became the main shareholder of PetroKazakhstan in a $4.2bn deal. From petrol stations to refineries and now even a 1,000km (620 mile) long pipeline, the first one ever to … Read More

Turkmenistan Begins “New Era”

February 15, 2007By Andy RowellBlog Post

The oil industry is getting excited by the fact that power has changed hands for the first time in two decades in the authoritarian energy-rich state of Turkmenistan. Former dentist, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, has taken the presidential oath in the capital. The strategic importance of the event was underscored by the presence of Russian Prime Minister … Read More

BP In More Trouble Over BTC Pipeline

February 15, 2007By Andy RowellBlog Post

BP’s troubles continue. A US government lending agency has been told by its own internal accountability watchdog that it must monitor more closely the safety of BP’s Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, amid allegations that the company failed to report cracks and leaks in its coating. A report from the office of accountability at the Overseas Private Investment … Read More

Dictator’s Death May Spark Gas Contest

December 22, 2006By Andy RowellBlog Post 1 Comment

The death of Saparmurat Niyazov, the idiosyncratic dictator of Turkmenistan, the former Soviet republic, could trigger a new round in the fierce battle between the United States and Russia for control of Central Asia‘s huge oil and gas reserves. Turkmenistan is the second-largest natural-gas producer in the former Soviet Union, after Russia. The country holds … Read More