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LATEST NEWS
US experts hold seminar for specialists in Kazakhstan's
oil and gas sphere
Text of report by Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency
Astana, 5 August: A three-day training seminar on how to
hold tenders in the oil and gas industry opened in Astana
today.
The organizers of the seminar are experts from the USAID's
Central Asia Natural Resources Management Programme (NRMP)
and the USA's Mineral Management Service (MMS).
"The main purpose of the training seminar is to familiarize
its participants with the MMS's way of holding tenders for
the development of the USA's oil and gas resources,"
a NRMP press release says.
The participants in the seminar, among whom are representatives
from the Kazakh Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources,
other interested state agencies and the KazMunayGaz state-run
oil and gas company, are discussing issues of holding tenders
for leasing offshore platforms and developing tender processes.
They are also studying the experience of encouraging the development
of deep-sea deposits of the USA.
This experience is also applicable in the conditions of the
Caspian Sea, the organizers of the seminar believe.
The seminar is being held as part of events conducted by
the NRMP for Kazakh state bodies.
As was reported, the previous seminar was held in July and
was devoted to world experience of concluding oil and gas
agreements.
Source: Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency, Almaty, in Russian
0419 gmt 5 Aug 03
BBC Mon CAU 050803 slk/skb
Canadian oil company earns record profit in
Kazakhstan
The Canadian oil company PetroKazakhstan Inc. has earned
a record profit of 62.8m dollars in the second quarter of
the current year, over 100 per cent up year on year, the Kazakh
newspaper Ekspress-K has reported. Oil extraction in the second
quarter totalled 13.2 barrels, or 145,066 b/d.
The company also aims to modernize its refinery operations
and switch to the production of high-quality oil products.
The following is an excerpt from the report by the Kazakh
newspaper Ekspress-K on 2 August entitled "Oil records"
with original subheads retained.
A number of events are the main results of the work of the
PetroKazakhstan Inc. company in the second quarter of 2003.
The Kyzylkum-Aryskum-Maybulak pipeline [all southern Kyzyl-Orda
Region] has been completed and put into operation. The company
accomplished record export volumes of oil transportation.
A record level of revenue and cash flows has been maintained
for two quarters running. Oil extraction went up to 145,066
b/d. New reserves have been found at the Aryskum and Maybulak
fields. The implementation of the project for gas recycling
is proceeding according to the schedule.
Finances
The net profit of PetroKazakhstan amounted to 68.2m dollars
in the second quarter of the current year, 101.8 per cent
up year on year. Cash flows totalled 91m dollars (100.8 per
cent up year on year). The company's programme of redemption
of shares, which began on 7 August 2002, will be completed
on 6 August this year. The redemption programme for the next
year is being renewed now.
On average, the PetroKazakhstan was extracting 145,066 b/d
in the second quarter. The extraction level went up by 23.1
per cent as compared with the second quarter of 2002 and by
3.1 per cent as compared with the extraction level in the
first quarter of 2003. In all, PetroKazakhstan extracted 13.2m
barrels of oil from April to July.
Export volumes were limited due to unfavourable transportation
conditions. As a result, the company had to reduce extraction
early in the second quarter of the current year. In connection
with the current situation, PetroKazakhstan forecasts that
average annual daily extraction will reach 155,000 b/d, and
not 165,000 b/d as was projected earlier.
The construction of the Kyzylkum-Aryskum-Maybulak pipeline,
which connects Kumkol oilfields [southern Kazakhstan] with
the new oil-filling terminal at the Dzhusaly station, has
been completed. The pipeline is 178-km long and its diameter
is 16 inches.
[Passage omitted: previously reported data on the pipeline's
capacity]
PetroKazakhstan in the near future plans to install more
pumps for downgrading wells at the Kumkol Yuzhnyy and Yuzhnyy
Kumkol [southern Kazakhstan] oilfields. This will lead to
an increase in oil extraction. An additional high-pressure
pump has already been installed on water blowing equipment.
This will make it possible to raise the blowing power to over
20,000 b/d. The final work is under way now on assembling
parts and turning on the electricity, which will be completed
in July [as given].
Six new wells were drilled during the second quarter at the
Kyzylkum, Aryskum and Maybulak fields. Of these, three extraction
wells were drilled at the Aryskum field and three blowing
wells at the Maybulak field. PetroKazakhstan was hoping to
discover possible oil reserves along the oil fringe and tests
and a test exploitation of wells has confirmed the existence
of further reserves of over 1,400 b/d.
In all, 96 per cent of the construction work for a gas recycling
installation with a capacity of 55 MW has been completed.
The installation is scheduled to be put into operation in
the third quarter of the current year. The project will enable
the company to recycle concomitant gas and create a more reliable
source of electricity at its fields. Extra electricity will
be sold in Kazakhstan's domestic market.
Oil sale and transportation
Oil shipment in the second quarter 2003 increased to 7.04m
barrels, or 77,317 b/d. This is 34 per cent up on the first
quarter of the current year and 4.8 per cent year on year.
Oil shipments to China rose roughly by six per cent in comparison
with the first quarter. In late May, PetroKazakhstan launched
oil shipments to China from the Atasu terminal [in Karaganda
Region in central Kazakhstan], the operator and owner of which
is KazTransOil [the Kazakh state oil transportation company].
The use of the Atasu terminal makes it possible to cut the
distance to the Chinese border by railway by some 435 km,
as compared to the southern route via the company's Tekesu
terminal [southeastern Kazakh town on border with China].
Shipment to the Fergana refinery based in [eastern] Uzbekistan,
which is a relatively new sales market for PetroKazakhstan,
also increased. The modification of the Ray unloading terminal
[in Iran], which is located near the Tehran refinery, also
continues.
The company refined 7.5m barrels of oil, or 82,659 b/d, in
the second quarter. Just for comparison: 8.3m barrels or 91,674
b/d were refined in the first quarter.
The implementation of several effective programmes launched
at the refinery to improve production continues yielding benefits
thanks to advanced energy use and cost cutting.
The work on the project for reconstructing a vacuum-distillation
installation is continuing. It is anticipated that the project
will be completed in 2003. The upgrading of this installation
will make it possible to increase the production of high-quality
oil products and reduce the production of low-level oil products
like black oil.
Source: Ekspress-K, Almaty, in Russian 2 Aug 03, p3
BBC Mon CAU 030803/abm/nu
Assets up, profits down at Kazakh state bank
in first half year
Excerpt from report by Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency
Almaty, 31 July: The assets of the Development Bank of Kazakhstan
totalled about 59.1bn tenge [402m dollars] (the current exchange
rate is 146.79 tenge to a dollar) as at 1 July 2003, an annual
increase (that is from 1 July 2002) of 66.7 per cent.
The increase, a report submitted by the bank to the Kazakh
Stock Exchange says, resulted from the growth in the net volume
of the credit portfolio by 10bn tenge [68m dollars], in securities
(including REPO [repurchasing sale and purchase agreement])
by 6.8bn tenge [46.3m dollars] and in sums of
money in correspondent accounts by 8.2bn tenge [55.8m dollars],
whereas other assets went down by 1.4bn tenge [9.5m dollars].
Liquid assets, the bank's report says, rose in the given
period by 24.5 per cent and stood at over 37.6bn tenge [255.8m
dollars] at the end of June.
The development bank's equity increased by 9.2 per cent during
the year and exceeded 33.3bn tenge [226.5m dollars]. The growth,
the bank's report says, resulted from an increase in the paid-in
part of the charter capital by 1.3bn tenge [27.7m dollars],
as well as from a rise in net profits and retained earnings
by 1.3bn tenge [8.8m dollars].
Meanwhile, the Development Bank of Kazakhstan earned net
profit of over 510.8m tenge [3.5m dollars] in the first six
months of 2003, 54.9 per cent down on the same period last
year. This was due to a considerable increase in spending
to paying off interest on funds raised and a rise in revaluation
costs.
The bank's liabilities as of 1 July 2003 stood at some 25.8bn
tenge [175.5m dollars] or 420 per cent up year-on-year.
The Development Bank of Kazakhstan was set up in April 2001
as a closed joint-stock company with 100 per cent of state
involvement in the charter capital.
[Passage to end omitted: the Finance Ministry and regional
administrations are the bank's founders]
Source: Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency, Almaty, in Russian
0633 gmt 31 Jul 03
BBC Mon CAU 310703/nu
Azeri oil fund assets total 780m dollars
Excerpt from report by Azerbaijani news agency Trend
Baku, 22 July: The income of the State Oil Fund of the Azerbaijani
Republic (SOFAR) in January-June totalled 1,142.8bn manats
[233m dollars] and the spending 678.5bn manats [140.3m dollars],
SOFAR has said.
The fund's revenue from oil deals totalled 1,008.3bn manats
[205.8m dollars], including 364bn manats [74.3m dollars] from
the sale of profitable oil and 58bn manats [11.8m dollars]
from payments per acre. SOFAR received 25.9bn manats [5.3m
dollars] from oil transit via the Baku-Supsa export pipeline
through Azerbaijani territory, 559.8bn manats [114.2m dollars]
from bonuses and 0.6bn manats [112,448 dollars] from renting
state property.
[Passage omitted: Other details]
Thus, the assets of the Oil Fund, which totalled 3,387bn
manats (about 692m dollars) on 1 January 2003, reached 3,836bn
manats (780m dollars) on 1 July 2003.
Source: Trend news agency, Baku, in Russian 1112 gmt 22 Jul
03
Kazakhstan: international firm starts
oil extraction for export
Excerpt from report by Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency
Almaty, 16 July: The Karachaganak Integrated Organization
(KIO) oil company has started extracting oil for export through
the pipeline system of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC,
the Tengiz [West Kazakhstan Region]-Novorossiysk [Russia]
pipeline).
"The first sales of oil, which will be transported through
the CPC system, are expected, as it was planned, at the end
of the third quarter of 2003, when oil reaches the Black Sea
port of Novorossiysk," a press release circulated today
by BG, a KIO participant, says.
The press release says that gas will be pumped back into the
strata as the initial amount of oil is extracted. "The
start of the extraction of oil for export marks the implementation
of the second phase of the programme on developing the Karachaganak
deposit," the press release says.
BG has invested over 1bn dollars "in one of the world's
biggest project", which the second phase of developing
Karachaganak is, and about 20,000 people are involved in the
project, the press release says.
"It is one of the most remarkable achievements in the
world hydrocarbon industry, and it is the service of all those
who have worked in hard conditions of the second phase of
the large-scale construction programme," the press release
quotes Frank Chapman, chief executive of BG, as saying.
The press release recalls that gas and gas condensate, which
had been extracted by KIO before, used to be sent to a gas
processing plant in Orenburg [Russia].
KIO is going to increase the transportation of hydrocarbon
resources through the CPC system and to Orenburg to 10m tonnes
a year (200,000 barrels a day) and to 7bn cu.m. of gas a year
(700m cu.m. a day) to Orenburg, according to the press release.
About 70 per cent of gas condensate from Karachaganak is expected
to be exported through the CPC pipeline.
As reported, KIO is going to transport hydrocarbon resources
to the CPC system through its own 635-km export pipeline from
Karachaganak to Bolshoy Chagan to Atyrau (from West Kazakhstan
Region to neighbouring Atyrau Region). The capacity of this
pipeline, worth 350m dollars, is 7m tonnes of oil a year.
[Passage omitted to end: BG and Eni have 32.5 per cent each
of the shares in KIO; ChevronTexaco has 20 per cent and LUKoil
has 15 per cent]
Source: Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency, Almaty, in Russian
0703 gmt 16 Jul 03
BBC Mon CAU 160703 sa/slk
Russian LUKoil steps up presence in Azeri oil
major project
Text of report by Azerbaijani news agency Trend
Baku, 1 July, Trend correspondent R. Abbasov: The Russian
oil company LUKoil has recently paid a bonus of 48.6m dollars
to the State Oil Fund of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOFAR),
Trend learnt from SOFAR's executive director, Samir Sarifov,
on 1 July.
He said that the bonus had been paid in connection with the
enlargement of the contract area under an agreement on the
exploration and development of the Yalama promising structure
in the northern part of the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian.
Sarifov said that besides this in the next few days LUKoil
would transfer to SOCAR [State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani
Republic] 30m dollars in payment for SOCAR's 20 per cent share
in the project.
SOCAR's share in the production sharing agreement for the
exploration and development of the Yalama promising structure
is 20 per cent and LUKoil's - 80 per cent.
Source: Trend news agency, Baku, in Russian 1500 gmt 1 Jul
03
BBC Mon TCU 020703 ea
Kazakh leader signs law on improving budget
system
Text of report by Kazakh Khabar TV on 20 June
[Presenter] Today the Kazakh president [Nursultan Nazarbayev]
signed a law on making changes to the budget system. The document
was adopted to improve the work of the National Fund and the
country's budget as a whole. The Ministry of Economy and Budget
Planning commented on the main provisions of the law.
[Bakhyt Sultanov, captioned as deputy minister of economy
and budget planning] This law has been drawn up with the aim
of implementing [tasks arising from] the president's state
of the nation address at parliament in spring. In line with
the law, now revenue that comes from the privatization of
the state shareholdings in mining and processing enterprises
will be channelled into the National Fund.
Source: Khabar Television, Almaty, in Russian 1400 gmt 20
Jun 03
BBC Mon CAU 200603 slk
Kazakh leader promises transparency, stability
of Caspian oil contracts
Text of report by Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency
Astana, 18 June: Contracts on oil development in the Kazakh
part of the Caspian shelf will be open and transparent, Kazakh
President Nursultan Nazarbayev has said.
"Above all, the openness and transparency of any contract
concluded on the development of the Caspian Sea shelf will
be ensured," the head of state told a news conference
in Astana today.
He mentioned that a state programme on the development of
the Caspian Sea shelf had been approved. "It is a very
attractive programme", and it contains a description
of each oil well and principles for its development, Nazarbayev
said.
The head of state said that contracts for developing the
Caspian shelf would be concluded on the basis of joint venture
establishment, "with KazMunayGaz (state-run oil and gas
company - Interfax-Kazakhstan) representing one side and a
foreign investor the other".
"At this point, there will be a new approach. There
will be brand new contracts based on our and world experience,"
the president emphasized.
He also said that the innovation would not damage the interests
of investors who had previously signed contracts on the development
of oil wells. "Their stability (of these contracts -
Interfax-Kazakhstan) will be preserved," Nazarbayev assured.
Source: Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency, Almaty, in Russian
0617 gmt 18 Jun 03
BBC Mon Alert CAU 180603ia/qu
New head of Kazakh audit chamber for budget
monitoring appointed
Omarkhan Oksikbayev [former chief of the Kazakh Security
Council] has been appointed head of the Audit Committee for
monitoring the implementation of the state budget by a Kazakh
presidential decree, Kazakh TV first channel reported on 14
June.
Source: Kazakh Television first channel, Astana, in Kazakh
1230 gmt 14 Jun 03
BBC Mon CAU 140603 nu
Azeri parliament adopts law on implementation
of 2002 budget
Text of report by Azerbaijani news agency Turan
Baku, 16 June: The Milli Maclis today adopted the law "On
the implementation of the state budget of the Azerbaijani
Republic in 2002" with 84 votes in favour and one against.
According to the report, the state budget revenues in 2002
were achieved by 95.2 per cent and totalled 4,551.2bn manats
[928.8bn dollars] and expenditure by 90.8 per cent and totalled
4,658.8bn manats [950.7bn dollars]. The state budget deficit
totalled 107.6bn manats [21.8bn dollars]. Revenue was for
15.4 per cent of GDP and expenditure 15.7 per cent.
Source: Turan news agency, Baku, in Russian 1314 gmt 14 Jun
03
BBC Mon TCU 140603 at/ek
Assets up, profits down at Kazakh development
bank
Excerpt from report by Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency
Almaty, 12 June: The assets of the state Development Bank
of Kazakhstan stood at about 57.3bn tenge [384.5m dollars
at the current exchange rate of 149.21 tenge to the dollar]
as of 1 April 2003, 78.9 per cent up compared with 1 April
2002.
The increase, says a report submitted by the bank to the
Kazakh Stock Exchange (KASE), resulted from the increase in
funds invested in other banks by 8.3bn tenge [55.7m dollars],
the growth in net volume of the credit portfolio by 11.8bn
tenge [79.1m dollars] and securities (including REPO [repurchasing
sale and purchase agreement]) by 6bn tenge [40.2m dollars],
whereas other assets fell by 766.3m tenge [5.1m dollars].
The bank's report says that its liquid assets increased by
48.2 per cent over the reported period and totalled over 45bn
tenge [302m dollars] at the end of March 2003.
The equity of the Development Bank of Kazakhstan increased
by 4bn tenge [26.8m dollars] over the reported year and exceeded
32.9bn tenge [220.8m dollars]. The growth, the bank's report
says, was thanks to the increase in the paid-in charter capital
by 2.4bn tenge [16.1m dollars] and the rise in net profit
and reserves by 1.6bn tenge [10.7m dollars].
At the same time, the development bank's net profit for the
first three months of the current year stood at over 161.8m
tenge [1.1m dollars], 74.3 per cent down on the same period
last year. This was due to the considerable rise in expenses
to pay off interest on borrowed funds and expenses related
to forming provisions against bad debts.
The bank's liabilities as of 1 April of the current year
amounted to some 24.3bn tenge [163.1m dollars] - a 7.8-fold
increase year-on-year.
[Passage to end omitted: the bank was set up in April 2001]
Source: Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency, Almaty, in Russian
0546 gmt 12 Jun 03
BBC Mon CAU 120603 nu
Azeri oil major provides almost half of budget
revenue in 2002
Text of report by Azerbaijani news agency Turan
Baku, 11 June: Taxes paid by the State Oil Company of the
Azerbaijani Republic [SOCAR] amounted to 48.8 per cent of
the 2002 state budget revenue, says a report on the implementation
of the 2002 state budget submitted to the parliament.
Last year, SOCAR transferred 1,660bn manats (338.6m dollars)
to the state budget, which was 24 per cent more than in 2001.
Of this sum, 375.4bn manats [81.1m dollars] were excise taxes
and 231bn manats [49.92m dollars] business taxes.
The Azariqaz [Azeri gas] closed-type joint-stock company
and Azarenerji [Azeri energy] paid 44.7bn [9.66m dollars]
and 39.9bn manats [8.62m dollars] to the budget in 2002 respectively,
which was 1.3 and 1.2 per cent of the budget revenue.
The Azerbaijani state budget expenditure on the fuel and
energy sector totalled 829.3bn manats [179.24m dollars] in
2002.
The Milli Maclis [parliament] will debate the report on the
implementation of the 2002 state budget this week.
Source: Turan news agency, Baku, in Russian 0615 gmt 11 Jun
03
BBC Mon TCU 110603 sa/fm
Azeri oil fund signs new contract with foreign
fund manager
Text of unattributed report by Azerbaijani newspaper Hurriyyat
on 7 June entitled "State Oil Fund signs contract with
new manager"
The State Oil Fund of the Azerbaijani Republic [SOFAR] has
signed a third agreement with a foreign financial structure
for the management of its funds. This financial structure
will manage part of the fund's assets, SOFAR's executive director
Samir Sarifov has told reporters.
He did not say how much of the assets would go to the new
financial structure for management, adding that under valid
normative documents this could not be more than 10 per cent.
Sarifov said that up to 60 per cent of the funds might be
handed over to foreign management.
Clariden (a Credit Suisse subdivision) and Deutsche Asset
Management (a Deutsche Bank subdivision) are both managing
40m dollars for SOFAR.
Negotiations with foreign bodies over new managers are under
way. It is expected that two contracts will soon be concluded
with two other banks. Sarifov did not want to name them in
advance.
The executive director said that SOFAR's profit from the
management of the funds over the five months of this year
totalled over 4 per cent. This figure amounted to 2.15 per
cent in 2002. Sarifov believes that the growth in the profit
is connected with an increase in the exchange rate of the
euro to the dollar.
About 750m dollars have now been accumulated in SOFAR's account.
Some 30 per cent of it is kept in euros, 0.1 per cent in pounds
sterling and 65 per cent in US dollars.
Source: Hurriyyat, Baku, in Azeri 7 Jun 03 p 10
BBC Mon TCU 070603 at/fm
Azeri Oil Fund publishes 2002 audit results
The State Oil Fund of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOFAR) has
announced results of an audit conducted by Ernst and Young
for the year ended on 31 December 2002.
The Oil Fund's balance as of 31 December 2002 was 3,374bn
manats (688.6m dollars). The fund paid to the Azerbaijani
State Refugees Committee 3,584m manats (731,400 dollars) in
2001 and 188,653m manats (38.5m dollars) in 2002.
The fund has also allocated 15,276m manats (3.1m dollars)
to the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline
that will export crude from Azerbaijan's Caspian Sea oil fields
through Georgia to Turkey's Mediterranean coast.
The fund's total assets in 2002 stood at 3,389bn manats (691.6m
dollars); operating expenses totalled 1,204m manats (245,700
dollars).
A complete statement will be available on the official web
site of the Oil Fund at www.oilfund.az beginning 10 June 2003.
Source: Turan news agency, Baku, in Russian 1430 gmt 4 Jun
03
BBC Mon TCU 050603 sa
Kazakhstan to publish report on National Fund
work in 2002 soon
Text of report by Kazakhstan Today news agency web site on
2 June
A full report on the [work] of the Kazakh National Fund [which
accumulates funds from oil and other export-oriented sectors
of the economy] in 2002 will be published in Kazakhstan soon,
aide to the Kazakh president [Nursultan Nazarbayev] on economic
issues, Uraz Dzhandosov, told the round table Monitoring of
Forming and Using Revenues from Kazakhstan's Raw Materials
Sectors today.
Dzhandosov said that "an account report made by the
Ernst and Young auditing company which audited the National
Fund will be published".
Dzhandosov noted that "the Kazakh government has submitted
a new Budget Code which has several article devoted to the
National Fund to parliament".
Source: Kazakhstan Today news agency web site, Almaty, in
Russian 1141 gmt 2 Jun 03
BBC Mon CAU 020603 /nb
Azeri executive notes rise in oil fund amount
Excerpt from report by Azerbaijani news agency Media-Press
Baku, 2 June: The executive director of the State Oil Fund
of the Azerbaijani Republic [SOFAR], Samir Sarifov, has said
that about 750m dollars have now been accumulated in the fund's
account.
Sarifov said that this figure amounted to 692m dollars at
the beginning of 2003.
[Passage omitted: other figures]
Source: Media-Press news agency, Baku, in Russian 1021 gmt
2 Jun 03
BBC Mon TCU 020603 gc/fm
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