News: Wednesday, July 14, 2010 
Article of the Day
Kazakhstan imposes $20-a-ton Oil Export Duty
Kazakhstan has reintroduced an oil export duty it applied in mid-2008, then lifted in January of 2009 as oil prices tanked.
It slapped a $20-a-ton duty on exports Tuesday. That amount would allow the government to obtain about $400 million in additional revenue by the end of the year.
“Energy-rich Kazakhstan is restoring oil export tariffs as it seeks to plug shortfalls in the national budget” is the way the Associated Press put it.
The good news for petroleum producers is that the duty is a fifth of the $110 a ton that the government imposed two years ago.
The bad news for two big international consortiums is that they will have to pay the duty that they had avoided until Tuesday.
The two, Chevron-led Tengizchevroil and ENI and BG’s Karachaganak, have maintained all along that their long-term production-sharing agreements with the government stipulate that they are exempt form export duties.
Until now the government the government has gone along with them.
But Tuesday it said it no longer believes their contracts prohibit the duties.
The government’s re-interpretation of the export-duty contract provision is the latest in a string of steps it has taken to revise production-sharing terms with Tengizchevroil and Karachaganak.
Government officials maintain the original agreements were unfair.
The reason that international oil companies contend that production-sharing agreements should be inviolable is that they provide stable tax conditions to projects over their entire lifespan.
Such agreements are essential to investor confidence in a country, they maintain.
Many analysts dubbed Kazakhstan’s move to impose export duties on Tengizchevroil and Karachaganak “ resource nationalism.”
The comparing it to efforts by Russia and other resource-rich nations to become more assertive with foreign investors at a time when oil prices are rising.
Finance Minister Bolat Zhamishev said about 15 deals would be exempt from the export duty because of a stability clause in their contract. He did not name the projects.
"We believe that they have no stability (clause) in their contract and thereby they will pay," he said of Tengizchevroil and Karachaganak.
The Tengiz and Karachaganak developments are Kazakhstans's two biggest.
The Kashagan development in the Caspian Sea will dwarf their combined production, however. It is one of the largest oil finds in the past decade.
An ENI-led group will start commercial production at Kashagan this decade, Reuters reports.
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Kazakhstan General
Merkel kicks off Trip to Russia, China, Kazakhstan
By Dave Graham
German Chancellor Angela Merkel begins a five-day visit to Russia, China and Kazakhstan today in a bid to establish a stronger foothold for German
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Swiss Leader Hails Cooperation with Kazakhstan
By Ilyas Omarov
Switzerland has always occupied a special place in international relations.
The Swiss Confederation has a long history of neutrality. It has not been in
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Nazarbayev University Entrance Exams begin
Entrance exams have begun for the first class at the new Nazarbayev University in Astana.
All 500 students in the first class will receive scholarships, university officials
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Medical Train Staff see 2,000 Patients
The medical train that the government equipped to serve rural areas treated 2,000 patients in the Karaganda region in its first 10 days.
The 26 Astana doctors
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German Business People tour Pavlodar Industries
By Nikolai Kuznetsov
A German business delegation has toured industries in the Pavlodar area looking for investment opportunities, Kazinform reports.
A number of Pavlodar companies have already forged
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Kazakhstan asks Drug-smuggling Effort
Kazakhstan sponsored a conference on drug-smuggling at the Vienna headquarters of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Minister of Home Affairs Serik Baimaganbetov said drug
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Seven New Plants open in Kyzylorda
Seven new plants or processing facilities have opened in the Kyzylorda area since the first of the year under government industrialization programs, officials said.
One is the
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Bulgarian Text Planned for Kazakhstani Children
A Bulgarian who spent 10 months teaching in a Kazakhstan village wants to write a Bulgarian-language textbook for ethnic-Bulgarian children in the village.
Yuliyana Ganeva, who taught
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Oil and Gas Sector
Kazakhstan’s Oil Production Up 6.4% In First Half
Kazakhstan produced 39.2 million tons of oil in the first half of 2010, 6.4 percent more than in the same period of 2009, Statistics Agency Chairman
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Has China Won the Caspian Gas War with Russia?
Commentary by Alexandros Peterson
Natural gas is in the midst of a transformative moment.
The advent of shale gas, the growth of seaborne liquefied natural gas and
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Jupiter’s Kazakhstan Reserves Higher Than Expected
By Jeff Coote
The reserves at the oil field that Australia’s Jupiter Energy is developing in Kazakhstan are almost double what was first calculated, according to proactiveinvestors.com.au.
The
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Finance and Investment
CEO of Bank CenterCredit’s Parent Bows Out
By Kang Seung-woo
The chief executive of the South Korean bank that owns Kazakhstan’s troubled Bank CenterCredit has stepped down after six years.
Kang Chung-won had headed
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Halyk’s Pension Fund gets Highest Rating
Expert RA Kazakhstan has assigned Halyk Bank’s pension fund its top rating -- A++, according to the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange.
The ratings firm said its assessment was
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Online Brokers in Kazakhstan, Denmark team up
The online stock broker Real-Invest.kz has formed a partnership with Denmark-based Saxo Bank, which also has an online arm
The partnerships will allow Real-Invest.kz clients to trade
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Regional Business News
German Trade Deals With China rise Sharply
By Judy Dempsey
German companies are realizing that trade with China, more so than with Russia or other countries, is becoming its economic salvation.
Germany is China’s biggest
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Putin’s Anti-inflation Drive makes Bonds Profitable
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s drive to slow inflation is making government bonds profitable for the first time on record while curbing returns in the world’s
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FBI swooped in when Worried Chapman called Father
By Andrew Clark
The youngest and most glamorous of Russia's 10 self-confessed spies, Anna Chapman, triggered the FBI swoop when she made an anxious phone call to
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Uranium Prices rise as China Boosts Stockpiles
China is buying unprecedented amounts of uranium, signaling that prices are poised to rebound after three years of declines, Bloomberg reports.
The nation may purchase about 5,000
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Russia gives Kyrgyzstan Money, Fuel
Kyrgyzstan has received $10 million and 20,000 tons of diesel fuel from Russia in a sign of Moscow's aim to consolidate its influence over the Central
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Half of Grain in 11 Regions of Russia Damaged
By Maria Kolesnikova
Russia’s worst drought in a decade has damaged more than half of the grain planted in 11 regions.
“We don’t see much room for improvement
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FMC to supply Equipment to Gazprom Venture
The American offshore oilfield equipment maker FMC Technologies has signed a $190-million contract to provide subsea equipment for Gazprom’s Kirinskoye field off Russia’s Pacific Coast.
Kirinskoye, a
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Prices and Statistics
Volume and Share Index by Visor Capital
Date: July 14, 2010; Source: Visor Capital
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Market Movers by Visor Capital
Date: July 14, 2010; Source: Visor Capital
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Oil and Gas Prices
Date: July 14, 2010; Source: Bloomberg.com
| Petroleum
($/bbl) |
|
Price* |
Change |
%Change |
Time |
| Nymex Crude Future |
77.11
|
-.04
|
-.05
|
02:28 |
| Dated Brent Spot |
75.68 |
-.25 |
-.33 |
02:38 |
| WTI Cushing Spot |
77.15 |
2.20 |
2.94
|
07/13 |
| Petroleum
(cent/gal) |
|
Price* |
Change |
%Change |
Time |
| Nymex Heating Oil Future |
204.31
|
-.43
|
-.21 |
02:16
|
| Nymex RBOB Gasoline Future |
207.54
|
-.67 |
-.32 |
02:09 |
| Natural gas
($/MMBtu) |
|
Price* |
Change |
%Change |
Time |
| Nymex Henry Hub Future |
4.36 |
.01 |
.14 |
02:27 |
| Henry Hub Spot |
4.48 |
.05 |
1.13 |
07/13 |
| New York City Gate Spot |
4.95 |
.11
|
2.27 |
07/13
|
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Commodities
Date: July 14, 2010; Source: Bloomberg.com
| Commodity |
Price |
Change |
%Change |
Time |
| COPPER FUTURE (USd/lb.) |
302.000 |
0.250 |
0.08 |
02:29 |
| GOLD 100 OZ FUTR (USD/t oz.) |
1213.200 |
-0.300
|
-0.02 |
02:29 |
| SILVER FUTURE (USD/t oz.) |
18.260 |
0.003
|
0.02
|
02:29 |
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Metal Prices
Date: July 14, 2010; Source: Kitco.com
| Silver |
18.21 |
-0.04 |
| Platinum |
1527.00 |
+2.00
|
| Palladium |
463.00 |
-1.00
|
| Rhodium |
2,380.00 |
0.00
|
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Exchange rates
Date: July 14, 2010; Source: the National Bank of Kazakhstan
| 1 USD |
KZT 147.70 |
1 CHF |
KZT 138.91 |
1 CNY |
KZT 21.81 |
1 TRY |
KZT 94.92 |
10 JPY |
KZT 1.67 |
| 1 EUR |
KZT 185.26 |
1 AUD |
KZT 128.99 |
1 KGS |
KZT 3.22 |
1 UZS |
KZT 0.09 |
|
|
| 1 GBP |
KZT 222.42 |
1 CAD |
KZT 142.90 |
1 RUB |
KZT 4.79 |
100 KRW |
KZT 12.18 |
|
|
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