March 2nd
Uzbekistan’s Quest for Oi Aral Seal May Weaken Kazakhstan’s Position in the Caspian
As a part of its incessant attempts to consolidate its presence in the energy sector of Central Asia, on January 17, the board of executives of the Russian company, Lukoil, endorsed the purchase by its daughter company, Lukoil Overseas, of 6.6 percent of shares in transnational Aral Sea Operating Company. The Aral Sea Operating Company was set up in 2006 to explore and develop Uzbekistan’s oil and gas fields in the Aral Sea on a Product Sharing Agreement basis. With the additional acquisition, Russian shares in the transnational Aral project joined by Uzbekistan’s Uzneftegaz national holding, Chinese CNPC International, South Korean KNOC Aral and Russian Lukoil Company totals 26.6 percent. The 6.6 percent of shares purchased by Lukoil earlier belonged to Malaysian Petronas Company, which abandoned the project in 2011. READ MORE
EU withdraws ambassadors from Belarus
The EU and Belarus have made tit-for-tat withdrawals of ambassadors in an escalating row over the EU's use of sanctions to punish Minsk's human rights record. READ MORE