Investment in hydroelectricity in Kyrgyzstan has come to a standstill and the government has announced that it is courting new investment partners. A new report published by The Diplomat and a recent government announcement indicate that the country will look beyond Russia, its traditional partner in hydroelectric development, for financing due to ambiguous signs coming…
For the first time, US export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe will be delivered to Lithuania, a shot across the bow in challenging Russia’s land-locked pipelines that supply Europe with a third of its total natural gas. The delivery will head to the Baltic country in February, transported by tanker to custom built…
German oil and gas company DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG decided to leave Turkmenistan and put an end to plans to explore the Caspian Sea shelf. The decision to abandon commitments the company had made around Block 23 is explained by the company’s frustration with excess bureaucracy and corruption in Turkmenistan. DEA AG acquired rights to explore at…
Kazakhstan continues to feel the consequences of both a prolonged slump in global oil prices and China’s devaluation of the yuang. The drop in oil prices to below $50/ a barrel has led Sino-Kazakh drilling company Velikaya Stena to lay off more than 200 employees in an effort to cut costs. The layoffs are partially…
The Iranian government plans to release new oil contracts by the end of 2015, according to Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh. The announcement will come at a year-end conference in London, the minister said, and will include at least 50 new oil and gas projects worth an estimated $185 billion. The contracts will form…
Representatives from several Western oil majors including Royal Dutch Shell and Eni recently held meetings with Iranian officials in Tehran. The meetings are the first of their kind following the tentative Iranian nuclear framework deal, and demonstrate the existing level of interest in the Iranian nuclear program. According to Shell representatives, the recent meetings revolved…
Christopher Weafer is the founder of Macro-Advisory, a research consulting company focusing on Russia, the CIS, and macro oil trends and was recently in 2013 voted the best Russian investment strategist in a poll by Thomas Reuters Extel. Before becoming a consultant, Chris was Chief Strategist at Sberbank-CIB, Russia’s largest bank. He also writes extensively…
Sources close to the CASA-1000 negotiations indicate that the deal will finally be signed today or tomorrow in Istanbul. Officials from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are set to convene anew to finalize the terms of the much-discussed but frequently-delayed hydroelectric transmission project. According to these same sources, one two of the major factors still being…
Today, EU antitrust regulators have made the case the Gazprom has abused its dominance over European natural gas markets. The European Commission said that unfair pricing has resulted in higher gas prices in Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland – most of which are almost 100% dependent on imported Russian natural gas. Regulators assert a…
Russian energy giant Gazprom saw its profits drop by 70% in 2014. The drop is doubtless due to the sharp drop in the value of the Russian ruble, low oil prices and the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. Gazprom has been at the center of the conflict in the Ukraine, as its supply of natural gas…
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