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Каспинфо ноябрь 1999 |
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Название: Материалы на английском языке Главные Пункты: * Туркменистан экспортировал 1,4 млн. т. нефти за 9-месячный период. * Exxon положил глаз на газ Туркменистана. * Румынская национальная компания собирается начать добычу нефти в Казахстане. *Президенты четырех Каспийских государств подписали соглашение о транспортировке азербайджанской нефти в обход России. * Подписано соглашение о прокладке трубопровода "Голубой поток" по дну Черного моря. * ЕС планирует расширить торговые связи с Казахстаном и увеличить объем инвестиций в эту страну. *После продажи Черногорнефти BP Amoco пересмотрит свои решения по поводу деятельности в России. * Официальные лица Грузии и Азербайджана обсудили перспективы экспорта газа. * Премьер-министр Казахстана разъяснил ситуацию с продажей акций Тенгизшевройл. (22.11.1999) Полный Текст Материалы на английском языке November 4, 1999 Invitation to the Regional Assembly of the NGO Working Group on the World Bank The NGO Working Group on the World Bank (NGOWG), created in 1984, is one of the oldest forums for advocacy consensus building among worldwide NGOs regarding the World Bank. It is also one of the oldest dialogue mechanisms between NGOs and the World Bank regarding crucial development issues worldwide. The Group is working mainly through regional Assemblies which elect representatives to the Global Committee. The First Assembly of the NGO Working Group on the World Bank from the ECA Region (East Europe, Newly Independent States, Baltic States, Central Asia, Turkey and Cyprus) will meet in Vilnius, Lithuania from March 31 April 2, 2000. At this Assembly , NGOs representing a cross-section of countries and interests in the ECA Region will discuss World Bank activities and their social and environmental impacts and decide on the future function and strategy of the ECA Region Working Group. They also w ill elect representatives to the Working Group. The three-day agenda includes plenary sessions, workshops on World Bank activities, and small group discussions. The participants will define the vision and tasks of the new ECA Assembly and develop strategies for constructive communications channels with the Bank. NGOs participating will be expected to attend all sessions, participate in discussions, be knowledgeable about Bank activities, role, and impacts in their areas and willing to contribute to future work of the Working Group. The Organizing Committee for the Assembly is working to obtain sponsors to cover costs of participants. Because of budget limitations, however, attendance will be limited to 100 persons. In order to have a representative cross-section of NGOs by cou ntry and interest, the Committee has developed an application form to assess an applicant's knowledge of the Bank, advocacy skills, motivation and ability to work on issues, resources, and networking capabilities. In order to assure impartiality of s election, a committee of outside, independent experts will be hired to review and evaluate the applications and to recommend the 100 NGOs they believe would best contribute to the Assembly, based on selection criteria. We anticipate representatives from three d ifferent NGOs from each country in the region, with additional slots filled by international NGOs from the ECA Region. If your organization would like to be considered for participation in this Assembly, please complete attached application form and return it by e-mail by December 10 to Secretariat of the Organiznig Committee: Ngowbwg@bankwatch.org If you have any questions, please direct them to Roberta Harper at: { HYPERLINK mailto:ngowbwg@bankwatch.org }ngowbwg@bankwatch.org All the best, Tomasz Terlecki on behalf of the Organizing Committee This mailing includes following attachments: 1. application form (Word for Windows 6.0) 2. draft Agenda for the Assembly (Word for Windows 6.0) Both documents may also be downloaded from the website at: www.bankwatch.org/ngowbwg/Documents/ ************ New York Times November 19, 1999 THE CASPIAN ACCORD Caspian Lands Back a Pipeline Pushed by West By STEPHEN KINZER ISTANBUL -- Four nations in the Caspian Sea region took a giant step on Thursday toward embracing one of President Clinton's cherished foreign policy projects, a pipeline that would assure Western control over the potentially vast oil and natural gas reserves. At a ceremony in Istanbul, the presidents of Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkey agreed to support building of a pipeline that would carry Caspian oil to ports in the West on a route that does not pass through Russia or Iran. Construction of this pipeline, estimated at $2.4 billion, would give the United States and other Western countries access to an important new source of energy. But the main significance was that it would draw the new nations near the Caspian, which were part of the Soviet Union only a decade ago, away from Russia and give the United States greater influence in the region. The accord was signed Thursday during a summit meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, where much of the topic was the conflict in Chechnya. But the pipeline could turn out eventually to do more to weaken Russia's hold over the Caucasus and Central Asia. "This is a major foreign policy victory," Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson said. "It is a strategic agreement that advances America's national interest." There was no official reaction by the Russian government. Thursday's accord does not guarantee that the pipeline to the West will be built. Any pipeline would have to be paid for by oil companies and their partners, led by BP Amoco p.l.c., the British-American energy company, and they have warned that they will make their decision based on commercial rather than political considerations. With today's agreement, oil company executives said they would now begin trying to arrange financing for the project. Just how much oil lies beneath the Caspian and in the surrounding lands is subject to debate. Without doubt, oil experts say, the region has more oil than Alaska, probably at least as much as the North Sea, and possibly half as much as Saudi Arabia. Still, the uncertainty has made it difficult to arrange financing for pipelines in a politically volatile region. For several years, the United States has been courting the leaders of Caspian nations, telling them that their future lies not with Russia or Iran but with the West. Thursday's accord suggests that they agree. The 1,080-mile pipeline that the United States supports would begin in Azerbaijan's capital, Baku, cross Georgia and Turkey, and end at Turkey's Mediterranean port of Ceyhan. From there, Caspian oil would be pumped onto tankers and shipped to Western countries. To ensure that there will be enough oil to fill the pipeline, American negotiators have been pressing Kazakhstan, which lies on the opposite side of the Caspian, to ship its oil and gas to Baku through an undersea link. The chief United States envoy to the Caspian region, John S. Wolf, predicted that building of the pipeline could begin in 2001 and that oil would begin flowing through it "by the first quarter of 2004," a crucial date in the minds of some oil companies in the region. They believe that increased amounts of oil will be produced in the Caspian by then and that unless the pipeline is completed there will be insufficient means to transport it to market. For now, much of the oil moves west by ship through the narrow Bosporus and by some existing pipelines. Wolf said Turkey had guaranteed that building the Turkish segment of the pipeline, which is by far the longest, would cost the companies no more than $1.4 billion. If it costs more, Wolf said, Turkey will assume the liability. Outside powers have been waging an intense political battle for control of Caspian energy resources and the political influence that those resources represent. All agree that the battle is not simply about oil and gas. Its outcome will shape the future of one of the world's most turbulent regions. Russia has dominated the Caspian region for more than a century and considers it part of its natural sphere of influence. Iran, which is also competing for a decisive role in the region, has deep historic and ethnic ties to Azerbaijan, where the Caspian energy boom is centered. It offers what is probably the cheapest alternative for a pipeline. Many oil executives prefer that route, but United States sanctions against Iran make it all but impossible to build, at least for the time being. Some executives noted, however, they may be able to wait for the possibility that the sanctions will be lifted. Russia offered a third alternative route from Baku, but it passes through Chechnya and is considered unreliable. Leaders in the region have often expressed their preference for the Baku-Ceyhan route, and have signed several agreements to build it. Thursday's accord, however, seemed more substantial than the others. "This one is a real step forward," said a Western diplomat posted in Baku. "The big difference is that now, the Turks really seem to have guaranteed the cost." Michael Townshend, director of international affairs at BP Amoco, said today's agreement "actually cemented the terms so we could now go and take it to interested parties to see if they want to invest in it." Besides the American and European companies involved in this pipeline, he said, other energy companies working in the region would be approached, including Chevron, Texaco and Mobil, for financial backing. Outsiders from Genghis Khan to Tamerlane to Hitler have waged war to control the region around the Caspian. The more recent attraction has been the huge energy potential both under the Caspian Sea and around it. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the region has appeared to float freely, its leaders anxious for ties to the West but fearing the consequences of breaking from their longtime masters in Moscow. The accord signed Thursday was accompanied by an "intergovernmental declaration" of intent to build a second major pipeline. It would carry the enormous gas resources of Turkmenistan to gas-starved Turkey through a pipeline that would be laid under the Caspian to Baku. From there it would follow a route roughly parallel to the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline through Georgia, and then into some unspecified point in Turkey. If both this line and the oil line from Baku to Ceyhan are built, the West will have won control over the key resource of Central Asia and the Caucasus. This control would not be without risk. All three of the energy-rich nations around the Caspian -- Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan -- are ruled by former Communist autocrats. All are crippled by spectacular corruption and a rapidly expanding gap between rich and poor. None has passed laws to ensure that some of their expected oil wealth will reach their poor and expectant masses. "What was signed today is only a step forward if it can be converted into something real, and it's not at all clear that it can be converted fast enough to make difference in these states," Martha Brill Olcott, an American scholar who is a leading expert on the Caucasus and Central Asia, said in a telephone interview from Washington. "It's a sign of activity, but you have to ask whether it will make these states more stable, or even whether these states will still exist in a few years as they do today." "This is an important first step," Ms. Olcott said. "But Chechnya is just the beginning of what we're going to face in this region. Russia is not going to sit back quietly as, from its perspective, the United States tries to undermine its vital strategic interests there." ********* November 18, 1999, Thursday TURKMENISTAN EXPORTS 1.4 MLN TONNES OF OIL IN JAN-SEPT ASHGABAT. Nov 18 (Interfax) Turkmenistan exported 1.399 million tones of crude oil worth $85.561 million in the first nine months of the year. Exports of crude accounted for 9.8% of export revenues, behind natural gas (41.9%) and oil products (15.1%). Natural gas exports in the period rose 810% compared with the same period last year and oil product exports rose 20%. *********** HART'S ASIAN PETROLEUM NEWS November 15, 1999 EXXON EYES TURKMEN GAS Exxon has made a bid for a drilling licence to explore for gas in Turkmenistan, said an official for the country's government. The company is applying for a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) to give it rights to drill on Turkmenistan's side of the river Amu Darya, said a spokesman from the Turkmen Oil Ministry. "Exxon has bid to sign a PSA with Turkmenistan, as a result of which it could receive the right to exploit several gas fields, including those on the right bank of the Amu Darya," he added. Exxon recently conducted a feasibility study for the site of the drilling, which is estimated to contain around 2 Tcm of gas reserves. The ministry has flagged up that any gas discovered could supply a proposed US $10-15 Bn pipeline - although the price alone makes it a non-starter - running along a route of Turkmenistan- Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan-China-Japan. However, if significant gas reserves are discovered, should Exxon be awarded a licence, finding and reaching a market will be the name of the game. The market that instantly springs to mind is that of Turkey with its rapidly increasing energy demand. The possible routes of getting gas to Turkey are either south and through Iran and then onto Turkey, or via a subsea trans-Caspian pipeline. An alternative could be to transport gas north into Kazakhstan to join the gas systems via Russia. However, the Turkmens do not have great relations with most of its Caspian neighbours, including Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran and Azerbaijan. Dragon's offshore flight Dragon (Holdings) Ltd has signed a $30m structured finance package with ANZ Grindlays Bank Ltd of Dubai to fund the upgrading of the Lam and Zhadanov fields in Turkmenistan's offshore sector of the Caspian Sea. This development project includes drilling new production wells, workover of existing wells to increase output and the Enhancement of production facilities. ********** November 16, 1999. HEADLINE: Romanian national oil company to start crude oil extraction in Kazakhstan SOURCE: Rompres news agency, Bucharest, in English 0947 gmt 16 Nov 99 Text of report in English by the Romanian news agency Rompres Bucharest, 16th November: National oil company SNP Petrom at the end of the year will extract the first amount of crude oil from the oil fields it holds in Kazakhstan, following the purchase of a 51 per cent stake in Tasbulat Oil, daily Ziarul National' quotes Nicolae Staiculescu, secretary of state in the Trade and Industry Ministry as saying. He adds that by 31st December the national oil company will finalize the works of the site in Tasbulat area and will start working for installing and starting the drills. The oil extracted from Tasbulat will be transported from Aktan Port on the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea to the port of Baku in Azerbaijan. This transport version which links two ports of the Caspian Sea was discussed this week by the Romanian secretary of state with Kazakh authorities as a possible route for the oil extracted from the Caspian region towards Europe, until the Constanta-Trieste line becomes operational. ********* RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC ___________________________________________________________ RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 3, No. 229, Part I, 24 November 1999 BLACK SEA GAS PIPELINE DEAL SIGNED. Representatives of the Blue Stream Pipeline Company, which comprises Russia's Gazprom and Italy's ENI, signed an agreement in Moscow on 23 November with Italian, French, and Japanese companies on the design and construction of the planned pipeline under the Black Sea that will transport Russian natural gas to Turkey, Interfax reported. The project is scheduled for completion in 2002 and will cost an estimated $1.7 billion, of which the Blue Stream Company will raise 20 percent. Western banks are likely to advance some funding, according to Gazprom executive Sergei Dubinin. Gazprom is already financing construction of part of the Russian sector between Izobilnoye and Dzhubga on the Russian Black Sea coast. Turkey and Russia will probably sign a formal protocol next month granting tax concessions to companies engaged in the project, Gazprom head Rem Vyakhirev told Interfax on 23 November. That protocol was to have been signed during Turkish Premier Bulent Ecevit's visit to Moscow earlier this month. LF ********* KAZAKHSTAN, EU DISCUSS COOPERATION. Cornelius Wittebrood, who is chief of the European Commission department for relations with the CIS, Central Asia, and the Caucasus, told journalists in Almaty on 23 November that the EU plans to expand trade with Kazakhstan and investment in that country's economy, Interfax reported. EU countries are among Kazakhstan's main trade partners. Wittebrood said his talks in Astana the previous day with Kazakhstan's Prime Minister Qasymzhomart Toqaev focused on Kazakhstan's admission to the WTO and cooperation under the recent partnership agreement between the EU and Kazakhstan. He also stressed the EU's support for the diversification of pipeline routes to transport Caspian hydrocarbons to international markets. He specifically mentioned Kazakhstan's Caspian Pipeline Consortium, the Trans-Caspian pipeline to export Turkmen gas, and the Baku-Ceyhan export pipeline for Caspian oil. LF ************* RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC ___________________________________________________________ ANOTHER WESTERN OIL MAJOR CONSIDERS PULLING OUT OF RUSSIA. Following the sale of the key production unit, Chernogorneft, of the Russian oil company Sidanko, BP Amoco announced on 26 November that it will review its operations in Russia. BP Amoco owns 10 percent of Sidanko's stock, and with loss of Chernogorneft, Sidanko has only a quarter of its former crude assets. BP Amoco had offered to settle Chernogorneft's debts, but the federal government chose to go ahead with a tender to sell the company. Al Breach of Goldman Sachs told Reuters that "Whatever the truth is, the PR on this for Russia is appalling." On 27 November, Prime Minister Putin told members of the Greater Urals interregional association that "an increase in foreign investment cannot be expected in the next few years" because "Western investors will wait until at least next June," after the presidential elections have taken place. JAC ********* GEORGIAN, AZERBAIJANI OFFICIALS DISCUSS GAS EXPORTS. On a one-day visit to Baku on 25 November, Georgian Minister of State Vazha Lortkipanidze discussed with President Aliev and Azerbaijani Premier Artur Rasizade the prospects for repairing the Kazi-Magomed-Kazakh-Tbilisi gas pipeline to allow Georgia to import an annual 400-500 million cubic meters of Azerbaijani natural gas, Caucasus Press reported. ITAR-TASS quoted Rasizade as estimating that such supplies could begin only in 12-18 months. LF ********* KAZAKH MINISTER CLARIFIES STANCE ON TENGIZCHEVROIL STAKE SALE. Kazakhstan's Finance Minister Mazhit Esenbaev told journalists in Astana on 24 November that the sale of part or all of Kazakhstan's stake in the Tengizchevroil joint venture will not be necessary immediately if the World Bank releases two separate tranches totaling $275 million before the end of this year, Interfax reported. A heated debate has been under way for months over the advisability of selling part of Kazakhstan's stake (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 3 September and 5 October 1999). Esenbaev also said Kazakhstan has met all the IMF's requirements for signing a new three-year cooperation plan (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 11 August and 7 October 1999). Those requirements include endorsing the draft budget for 2000 and abolishing the requirement that exporters sell to the state half of their foreign-currency earnings. LF KYRGYZ DEMONSTRATORS PROTEST CUT IN GAS SUPPLIES. Residents of Bishkek blocked one of the city's main highways on 26 November to protest the government's failure to reach agreement with Uzbekistan on the resumption of gas supplies, RFE/RL's bureau in the capital reported. Uzbekistan halted gas supplies to Kyrgyzstan on 16 November in retaliation for Kyrgyzstan's failure to pay an estimated $4 million for previous deliveries. Some buildings in Bishkek are already without heating, and electricity supplies are subject to frequent interruptions. LF ************ November 4, 1999 Invitation to the Regional Assembly of the NGO Working Group on the World Bank The NGO Working Group on the World Bank (NGOWG), created in 1984, is one of the oldest forums for advocacy consensus building among worldwide NGOs regarding the World Bank. It is also one of the oldest dialogue mechanisms between NGOs and the World Bank regarding crucial development issues worldwide. The Group is working mainly through regional Assemblies which elect representatives to the Global Committee. The First Assembly of the NGO Working Group on the World Bank from the ECA Region (East Europe, Newly Independent States, Baltic States, Central Asia, Turkey and Cyprus) will meet in Vilnius, Lithuania from March 31 April 2, 2000. At this Assembly , NGOs representing a cross-section of countries and interests in the ECA Region will discuss World Bank activities and their social and environmental impacts and decide on the future function and strategy of the ECA Region Working Group. They also w ill elect representatives to the Working Group. The three-day agenda includes plenary sessions, workshops on World Bank activities, and small group discussions. The participants will define the vision and tasks of the new ECA Assembly and develop strategies for constructive communications channels with the Bank. NGOs participating will be expected to attend all sessions, participate in discussions, be knowledgeable about Bank activities, role, and impacts in their areas and willing to contribute to future work of the Working Group. The Organizing Committee for the Assembly is working to obtain sponsors to cover costs of participants. Because of budget limitations, however, attendance will be limited to 100 persons. In order to have a representative cross-section of NGOs by cou ntry and interest, the Committee has developed an application form to assess an applicant's knowledge of the Bank, advocacy skills, motivation and ability to work on issues, resources, and networking capabilities. In order to assure impartiality of s election, a committee of outside, independent experts will be hired to review and evaluate the applications and to recommend the 100 NGOs they believe would best contribute to the Assembly, based on selection criteria. We anticipate representatives from three d ifferent NGOs from each country in the region, with additional slots filled by international NGOs from the ECA Region. If your organization would like to be considered for participation in this Assembly, please complete attached application form and return it by e-mail by December 10 to Secretariat of the Organiznig Committee: Ngowbwg@bankwatch.org If you have any questions, please direct them to Roberta Harper at: { HYPERLINK mailto:ngowbwg@bankwatch.org }ngowbwg@bankwatch.org All the best, Tomasz Terlecki on behalf of the Organizing Committee This mailing includes following attachments: 1. application form (Word for Windows 6.0) 2. draft Agenda for the Assembly (Word for Windows 6.0) Both documents may also be downloaded from the website at: www.bankwatch.org/ngowbwg/Documents/ |