KZBlog

Tag archive for ‘oil’

• Wind Energy

  I am pleased to read that Kazakhstan is considering developing more wind energy. At the moment, Kazakhstan has no wind farms, something that those of living out on the steppes are surprised to hear. The wind never stops in Astana so wind farms seem a logical choice. Apparently for the moment though, the priority is […]

  3/31/11 • (2)

• Giffen Trial Ends Not in a Bang

  After prosecuting James Giffen for seven years, Giffen pled guilty to avoiding paying taxes by failing to give information about a foreign bank account in his 1996 tax return. As for the accusation that he bribed government officials in Kazakhstan for oil deals to the tune of $84 million, well apparently consultants will be consultants. […]

  8/17/10 • (Comments Off on Giffen Trial Ends Not in a Bang)

• How to Write About Kazakhstan

  I am taking up a gauntlet here in response to a great post on Registan.net about How to Write About Afghanistan. First, mention Borat. If the article is about some problem or something that seems funny then refer to Kazakhstan as “Boratland”, “the home of Borat”, or “Boratistan”. Otherwise, if the article is about say […]

  5/02/10 • (2)

• Obama and Nazarbayev Did Discuss Zhovtis

  A more detailed look at the meeting between Obama and Nazarbayev from Joshua Kucera indicates that Obama did bring up Zhovtis and other human rights issues in some detail. And McFaul, Obama’s advisor on Eurasia and Russia on the National Security Councilapparently did not intend to indicate that Obama was overly soft on Kazakhstan and […]

  4/13/10 • (Comments Off on Obama and Nazarbayev Did Discuss Zhovtis)

• All Your Oil Are Belong to China

  There’s been a lot in the news about allegations of corruption against Timur Kulibayev, the son-in-law of President Nursultan Nazarbayev. These allegations were brought by Mukhtar Ablyazov, opposition leader and former head of BTA Bank currently in exile after being charged himself with financial crimes. The police have dismissed the accusations as without evidence (and […]

  4/02/10 • (2)

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  The Road to Beket-Ata

  As promised in my post on Aktau, I want to write about the road trip to Beket-Ata. In Western Kazakhstan, there were a number of Sufi teachers who came and lived in caves in the area, running medressahs, consulting on difficult matters and healing people. They say there are 365 of these cave complexes (sometimes […]

  8/25/09 • (5)

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  Your Eyes are as Deep as the Caspian Sea

  As part of my aforementioned vacation, I went to Aktau in Western Kazakhstan. The main reason for this was to finally get a chance to swim in the Caspian Sea at long last. Interestingly while the Caspian has some romantic and poetic value in the West (I think of Jill Sobule’s Good Person Inside as […]

  8/05/09 • (7)

• Maybe It Wasn’t Eni’s Fault

  After the recent scandal over the Kashgan oilfields, it is a bit surprising to hear that estimates of when the field will start producing have been pushed back again, to 2012-2013. Eni, the Italian oil company which held the controlling share in the consortium that is developing the Kashgan field, was criticized and threatened with […]

  5/13/08 • (Comments Off on Maybe It Wasn’t Eni’s Fault)

• No More PSA’s

  In a government meeting this week, Prime Minister Massimov assured the cabinet of ministers that work to renegotiate contracts with foreign investors will continue and that abrogations will be made on new contracts. …officials announced that they would no longer negotiate production sharing agreements, or PSAs, which tend to be favored by international energy conglomerates […]

  2/24/08 • (Comments Off on No More PSA’s)

• More State Control

  One week after the Address to the People of Kazakhstan, the Prime Minister announced that this year Kazakhstan will investigate all existing contracts with foreigners in the area of resource-exploitation i.e. mining and oil and gas. The government will void all contracts with companies that have violated the terms and the resources or rights to […]

  2/15/08 • (Comments Off on More State Control)

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