Publications

Armenian businesses see both opportunities and threats from opening the Turkish border. According to the report's projections, opening the border could increase Turkish exports to Armenia by 65 per cent and increase Armenian exports the other way by up to 42 per cent. Armenia-Turkey trade is already heavily one-sided – in 2019, bilateral trade amounted to $270 million, all but $2 million of Turkish imports to Armenia. Russia's second-largest oil producer Lukoil has closed a deal to buy a 9.99% stake in Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz natural gas project from Malaysian oil and gas company Petronas for $1.45 billion, it said on Friday. Lukoil had been set to buy a 15.5% stake from Petronas for $2.25 billion but reduced the transaction after other project shareholders BP and Azeri SOCAR claimed their pre-emptive rights.

This year, Azerbaijan plans to boost natural gas supplies and pump 16.2 billion cubic metres (bcm) via the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), mainly to Europe, and almost double its capacity in the future, the consortium's head said on Wednesday. TANAP comprises the longest stretch of the Southern Gas Corridor, a series of pipelines that carries gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz II field. Georgia's crypto mining economy has evolved into a global leader in recent years, primarily because of low taxes and affordable electricity rates, as well as a libertarian regulatory environment. According to ArcaneResearch'ss report, the crypto mining business in Georgia consumes 125 MW, of which 100 MW are allotted to Bitcoin mining.
Kazakhstan sets ambitious targets to unlock its renewable energy potential and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. At the end of 2020, it brought the share of renewable energy in the total electricity production to 3 per cent and now seeks to increase it to 15 per cent by 2030, five per cent more than the initial target, and by at least 50 per cent cent cent by 2050. Kyrgyzstan is in the final stages of settling its dispute with Canada's Centerra Gold, whose giant Kumtor gold mine nationalised last year. Last month, Centerra Gold confirmed it was in talks with the Bishkek government for an out-of-court settlement of the dispute, saying it should receive about 26.1% of its common stock held by Kyrgyzstan. World Bank experts on Central Asia’s looming water crisis. Faced with melting glaciers, aridification, migration, and increased competition for scarce water resources, Central Asian countries must strengthen transboundary water management to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Turkmenistan to hold early presidential election on March 12. The news comes after the president suggested he was ready to resign, with his son likely to become the successor. The 64-year-old leader, whose current term was set to end in 2024, is also the prime minister of the former Soviet republic and speaker of the upper house of parliament.

Turkmenistan Belt and Road Developing between China and Europe as more Caspian shipping volumes are added. Additional maritime capacity is being added to the Baku-Turkmenbashi Caspian sea route due to demand for the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey-Europe multimodal route, which saw container volumes increase by over 100% in 2021. Saudi’s ACWA Power breaks ground on the Uzbekistan wind power project. Energy major says the Nukus project is expected to reach a financial close by the third quarter of 2022, with an estimated total investment of $108 million. The project is in the Karatau district, Karakalpakstan region, in the north-western part of the country.