Welcome to the Caspian Daily, where you will find the 10 most important things you need to know on Caspian Sea Region. We appreciate ideas, reports, news and interesting articles. Send along to Caspian[at]moderndiplomacy.eu or on Twitter: @DGiannakopoulos
1“Whenever Russians think about Iran, soul-searching ensues. Some look at the Iranian system favorably, and some despise it, but in the aftermath of the recent deal to limit Iranian nuclear production in exchange for a lifting of economic sanctions and increased commercial contacts with the outside world, many Russians, worried by their country’s growing status as an international pariah, have begun to ask themselves: “Are we the new Iran?”This may sound strange to foreign ears, but it is not really so far-fetched. Many Russians, both inside and outside the Kremlin, admire the Iranian way of dealing with a hostile world” Maxim Trudolyubov for the New York Times.
2Russia and Saudi Arabia failed in talks on Tuesday to overcome their differences on the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a central dispute in Syria’s civil war that shows no sign of abating despite renewed diplomacy. Russia is pushing for a coalition to fight Islamic State insurgents — who have seized swathes of northern and eastern Syria — that would involve Assad, a longtime ally of Moscow. But, speaking after talks in Moscow, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir reiterated Riyadh’s stance that Assad must go.
3OPEC predicts that oil production in Azerbaijan will remain steady in 2015. “Azerbaijan’s oil supply is anticipated to average 0.86 million barrels per day, remaining unchanged from the previous Monthly Oil Market Report and indicating steady production in 2015,” OPEC’s monthly report on the oil market said August 11. Azeri crude oil output in June increased by 21,000 barrels per day to average 0.78 million barrels per day, following a decline of 57,000 barrels per day in May, which was a result of maintenance at the West Chirag platform that began on May 21 and lasted through June 6.
4Kazakhstan’s average oil production is expected to decrease by 10,000 barrels per day over the previous year to average 1.62 million barrels per day in 2015, according to OPEC’s August oil market report.The forecast remains unchanged from the previous monthly oil market report.“On a quarterly basis in 2015, output will average 1.66, 1.60, 1.59 and 1.62 million barrels per day, respectively,” the report said. Kazakhstan’s oil production declined by 80,000 barrels per day in June compared to May to settle at 1.56 million barrels per day, although it stayed higher by 40,000 barrels per day compared to June 2014 due to the intensified works at Tengiz field in May and June of 2014, OPEC said in its report.
5The bilateral cooperation in the political, economic-trade, cultural, and humanitarian fields, particularly in developing a partnership in the energy, transport, and investment sectors, as well as the implementation of joint infrastructure projects were high on the agenda of talks held between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov on August 7. During the bilateral meeting, the presidents of the two countries stated that the successful implementation of joint projects opens up new opportunities for Turkish business circles in the promising Turkmen market, an important factor of which is the favorable investment climate in the Central Asian country.
6Eight ways Iran might surprise you. “Compared to other countries in the Middle East and North Africa, Iran is very modern. Literacy is at 97%, women outnumber men in university enrolment, and in spite of government censorship, internet and social media use in Iran remains high. Many Iranians have satellite dishes and tune into Sex and the City and MTV, as well as the latest BBC documentaries. Iranians as a whole are far more educated and informed about the west than we are about them. If you think of Iran as a medieval backwater, prepare for a shock” Jennifer Klinec for the guardian.
7Rabitabank is conducting talks on purchase of one of the banks in Azerbaijan. However, he didn’t disclose the name of the bank due to the lack of concrete results. Rabitabank’s intention to purchase another bank is in line with its strategy to expand its activity.
8Schneider Electric runs energy summer school classes.Within the annual summer education program Schneider Electric has organized energy training courses for the high school students in the Republic of Azerbaijan. The one-month summer education program covered 40 students of Azerbaijan State Oil Academy and Baku Higher Oil School held in the premises of the Schneider Electric Baku office from 6 to 31 July 2015. During the education courses the students deepened their knowledge in the fields of energy efficiency, commercial and residential building management systems, industrial automation, smart energy management solutions, electrical distribution systems, data centers power supply and cooling systems.
9Russia’s Geopolitical Portfolio. In recent months, western investors have been willingly discussing attractiveness of Russian assets. The community divided: some fraction of analysts and investors seems to think that Russian assets’ toxicity is fundamentally exaggerated. There is an opinion that even if the US and Europe keep restricting import of their capital and technology to Russia, the country’s economy is capable of self-organization and import substitution. Taking into account a hypothetical oil recovery, there is a “great” opportunity to buy undervalued energy sector big caps. Long-term traders remind that the profit making entry to market is the most risky. After putting aside long-term risks evaluation (value at risk, VaR) let us try to understand if Russian technological sector has a chance to adapt. [investing.com]
10Turkmenistan: TAPI Announcement Yet Another Disappointment In choosing a domestic firm to lead the pipeline project, Ashgabat raises questions about future momentum. [The Diplomat]
