Our People > Bruce Pannier

Bruce Pannier

Bruce Pannier is a Central Asia Fellow in the Eurasia Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, the advisory board at the Caspian Policy Center, and a longtime journalist and correspondent covering Central Asia. He currently appears regularly on the Majlis podcast for RFE/RL.

Articles

Russia China Oil and Gas Gazprom Gas Pipelines

Russia Looking to Export Gas to China via Kazakhstan

Russia continues to try to reorient its natural gas exports from Europe to Asia and is planning a new pipeline route to China that would pass through Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan stands to benefit not only from transit fees, but could also import some Russia gas for regions in northeastern Kazakhstan that are desperately in need of more energy sources. The Russian plans are bad news for Turkmenistan as China is Turkmenistan’s main gas customer and Turkmen authorities were hoping to sell China even more gas. On November 15, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak mentioned the pipeline plan on the sidelines of a Chinese-Russian forum in Kazan, Russia. Novak said such a project is still only being discussed, but Russian media outlet Kommersant wrote on November 18 that there are already three options for the pipeline. All three possibilities pass though northeastern Kazakhstan, but Kazakhstan’s level of participation in the pipeline is different in each variation. One of the projects would require Kazakhstan to build a pipeline for gasification of the northeastern Pavlodar, Abai, and Karaganda provinces. A second proposal would include only the Abai and Zhetysu provinces. Russian gas giant Gazprom’s financial obligation also changes depending on the pipeline project selected. The most expensive option for Gazprom would cost more than $10 billion to construct and would not operate at full capacity until 2034. All versions foresee at least 35 billion cubic meters of Russian gas (bcm) shipped via the pipeline with Kazakhstan receiving some 10 bcm, which would greatly alleviate recent power shortages in northeastern Kazakhstan. Despite Novak saying the pipeline project was only being discussed, Kazakhstan and Russia appear well along in their planning. In early May, Kazakh Ambassador to Russia Duaren Abayev gave an interview to Russia’s TASS news agency and mentioned there was a “roadmap” for supplying 35 bcm of gas to China via Kazakhstan. Russia already exports gas to China via the “Sila Sibiri” (Power of Siberia) pipeline and expects that in 2024 the pipeline will for the first time reach its full capacity of 38 bcm. Construction of Sila Sibiri-2 with a planned capacity of some 50 bcm has been delayed due to China’s reluctance to loan Russia money for construction, differences over price, and China’s increasing purchases of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Novak commented on Sila Sibiri-2, saying the pipeline project involving Kazakhstan was separate and the Russian government will continue to negotiate with China about construction of Sila Sibiri-2. Russia is seeking to replace its former main customer, the European Union. Prior to the Kremlin launching its full-scale war on Ukraine in February 2022, the EU was buying between 150-160 bcm of Russian gas annually. The EU sharply cut back on Russian gas imports in response to the invasion of Ukraine and in 2023 imported less than 43 bcm. Russia’s pivot to Asia for gas exports targets the Chinese market, but Gazprom is looking to take any possible Asian customers and has found some in Central Asia. Russia’s surge into the Asian...

20 hours ago

Gas Pipelines Iran Oil and Gas Iraq

After Long Search, Turkmenistan Finally Finds a New Gas Customer – Iraq

Turkmenistan is reconfiguring its natural gas export options. Despite holding the world’s fourth largest gas reserves, Turkmenistan is exporting less of its gas today than it was 16 years ago. The big gas pipeline projects conceived nearly 30 years ago – a trans-Afghan pipeline to supply gas to Pakistan and India and a trans-Caspian pipeline to send gas to Europe - remain unfeasible for political reasons. Russia has been a leading customer for Turkmen gas for most of those three decades, but now Russia is competing for some of the same buyers as Turkmenistan. Stymied in its search for new markets at seemingly every turn, Turkmenistan is now planning on selling gas to Iraq, via a swap arrangement with Iran that includes bring Iranian companies to Turkmenistan to construct a new pipeline. Running Out of Options Turkmenistan is always looking for new gas customers. Iraq was never a potential gas buyer until recently, and in fact, the defunct Nabucco gas pipeline project of some 15 years ago considered Iraq to be a possible supplier of gas for Europe. Turkmenistan’s deal with Iraq appears to be the only deal possible at the moment, and it is an interesting arrangement. The two countries are not connected by any pipelines, so Turkmenistan will ship up to 10 bcm of gas to Iran, and Iran will send 10 bcm of its gas to Iraq. Turkmenistan signed what was described as a “binding agreement” for gas shipments after Iraq agreed to “an advance payment scheme and tax concessions.” In recent years, about 40% of Iraq’s gas imports came from Iran. After some 20 years of conflict, Iraq’s gas industry is still recovering, and gas imports are needed to operate the country’s power plants. However, sanctions on Iran made it difficult for Iraq to make payments for that gas. A Rocky Gas History There are already two gas pipelines connecting Turkmenistan’s gas fields to northern Iran. At the end of December 1997, the 200-kilometer Korpeje-Kurdkui pipeline with a capacity of some 8 bcm of gas was launched. In January 2010, the Dauletabad-Sarakhs-Khangiran pipeline with a capacity of some 12 bcm started operation. Turkmenistan was never close to shipping the 20 bcm combined capacity. Exports ranged from 6-8 bcm annually for years. Iran usually paid for its Turkmen gas in barter, sending a variety of goods, from food to engineering goods and services to Turkmenistan. In late 2016, a dispute developed between Turkmenistan and Iran over gas. Turkmenistan claimed Iran owed some $2 billion for gas supplies received in the winter of 2007-2008. Iran responded that Turkmenistan was inflating the price. The winter of 2007-2008 was especially cold causing severe gas shortages in 20 Iranian provinces. One Iranian media outlet reported on December 31, 2016, “Turkmenistan pounced on the occasion to demand a nine-fold hike which yanked the price up to $360 from $40 for every 1,000 cubic meters of gas.” On January 1, 2017, Turkmenistan halted gas supplies to Iran. The two countries took their...

7 days ago

Mining Raw Materials Mining Disaster Critical Minerals

New Era of Mining Starts in Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan will soon be issuing licenses for mining critical raw materials (CRM), which would have been almost unthinkable five years ago. However, a lot has changed in Kyrgyzstan, where a new president came to power in late 2020 and has since radically changed the form of leadership and is seeking new sources of revenue. A lot has changed in the world also, as governments are realizing the importance of CRMs for their economies and are scrambling to find supplies. Past Experiences Kyrgyzstan does not have significant reserves of natural gas or oil as most of the other Central Asian countries do. It was clear from the first days of independence that Kyrgyzstan’s main source of export revenue would come from mining, and Kyrgyzstan has significant deposits of CRMs. The Kumtor gold mine, 4,000-meters high in the mountains on the south part of the massive Lake Issyk-Kul, quickly became the economic savior for a country where most exports were agricultural products. Initial estimates put gold reserves at Kumtor at some 514 tons, but subsequent exploration revealed more gold at the site. Kumtor was a joint venture with Canadian company Cameco, but over time Cameco acquired nearly 75% of the project. There was environmental damage at the site that almost completely destroyed two nearby glaciers - Davidov and Lysiy. The most infamous incident involving Kumtor occurred in May 1998, when a Kumtor truck overturned into the Barskoon River, dumping nearly two tons of sodium cyanide into the water. Thousands of people were evacuated from area, several died, and business at Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan’s premier tourst attraction, plummetted. The example of environmental problems at Kumtor turned public opinion in Kyrgyzstan against mining projects. Some 20 year later, the issue again came to the fore over the Kyzyl-Ompol uranium site in the Tong district of Issyl-Kul Province. In April 2019, nearly 30,000 people signed a petition to halt work at Kyzyl-Ompol. Anti-mining sentiment grew and by October 31, 2019, Kyrgyzstan’s parliament approved a moratorium on exploration and extraction of uranium and thorium that was signed into law in December that year. Something Everyone Wants The European Commission wrote that CRMs are crucial for “producing a broad range of goods and applications used in everyday life and modern technologies,” and noted, “Reliable and unhindered access to certain raw materials is a growing concern within the EU and across the globe.” Additionally, the attempts by many nations to wean themselves off fossil fuels have led to a surge in countries seeking to construct nuclear power plants (NPP) to meet their energy needs. There are currently some 440 operating NPPs in the world, 60 new reactors are under construction, and another 110 are planned to be built. Current President Sadyr Japarov rose to power after Kyrgyzstan’s revolution in 2020. Japarov, who is from the Issyk-Kul area, was an opponent of foreign ownership of the Kumtor gold mine, and in 2021 his government forced out Canadian company Centerra (which took over from Cameco in 2004). Kumtor was...

3 weeks ago

Oil and Gas gasoline Exports Shortages

Turkmenistan’s Unexplained Shortage of Gasoline

For months now, areas in eastern Turkmenistan have been facing a severe gasoline shortage. The lack of fuel at the pumps is having a knock-on effect that is raising food prices and shutting down public transportation. Turkmen officials have not acknowledged there is any problem, so the people of the affected regions have no idea why this happening or for how long this situation will continue. Gasoline shortages are not new to Turkmenistan. They have been occurring sporadically in recent years, usually during in late summer when harvesting of crops starts. This latest deficit is unprecedented for Turkmenistan in its duration and severity. Long lines and purchase limits By late June, there reports from Lebap and Mary provinces about lines of cars of waiting at petrol stations. Often there was not enough gasoline for everyone. By mid-July, filling stations in at least five districts and several of the big cities in Lebap Province were often completely out of higher-grade gasoline – A92 and A95. Before the end of July, Lebap authorities imposed a 10-liter limit per customer, per day on gasoline purchases. At the start of July there were areas in the northeastern Dashoguz Province that were totally without gasoline, even the cheapest and most environmentally harmful A-80 grade (which is banned in many countries, including Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) was unavailable. In Mary Province, A-92 and A-95 gasoline ran out in July and by early August authorities had limited purchases of A-80 to 20 liters per customer, and even that was unavailable in many areas of the province. In October, Radio Free Europe’s Turkmen service, known locally as Azatlyk, posted a video of a line of vehicles some three kilometers long outside one of the few filling stations operating along the Turkmenabad-Mary highway. Azatlyk’s sources in the region said there were similar lines at filling stations throughout the province and in the provincial capital Turkmenabad. Some people are reportedly arriving at filling stations at 4am to get a place in line as close to the pumps as possible when the stations open. In Mary Province, some car owners said they were phoning family members to bring them food and water while they waited in line. Prices going up at the pumps and other areas Turkmenistan has some of the least expensive gasoline in the world with an average of $0.428 per liter, roughly a third of the world average of $1.30 per liter. The official rate of Turkmenistan’s national currency, the manat, is 3.5 to $1. The state regulated cost of one liter of gasoline is 1.15 manat for A-80, 1.35 for A-92, 1.5 for A-95, and 1 manat for diesel. There have been incidents where filling station employees have been illegally selling gasoline at 5-6 manat per liter to those who can afford it. The shortage is having an effect on public transportation. Most buses are assigned to bringing people to and from the cotton fields once harvest starts toward the end of August or early September...

4 weeks ago

Regional Relations Karakalpakstan Asylum

Karakalpak Activists Facing Charges in Uzbekistan, Granted Asylum in the United States

The waiting, worrying, and wondering are finally over for four Karakalpak activists who were detained in Kazakhstan some two years ago, and faced possible extradition back to Uzbekistan. Zhangeldi Zhaksimbetov, Tleubike Yuldasheva, Raisa Khudaybergenova, and Ziuar Mirmanbetova received word on October 15 that they had been granted asylum in the United States. It ended more than two years of uncertainty that started with the unrest in Karakalpakstan on July 1, 2022. Karakalpakstan is part of Uzbekistan, but has a special status as a sovereign republic with its own parliament and constitution that allows the region to hold a referendum on seceding from Uzbekistan. Those unique privileges are also enshrined in Uzbekistan’s constitution, but in spring 2022 parliament proposed making amendments to the constitution. The main reason for the amendments was to change the presidential term from five to seven years so that incumbent President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who was serving his second and constitutionally last term at the time, could extend his stay in power. However, the commission drafting the constitutional changes also dropped the articles referring to Karakalpakstan’s sovereign status and right to secede. Those rights were nominal as there was no chance Uzbek authorities would allow Karakalpakstan to fully govern itself or secede. Karakalpakstan accounts for some 37% of Uzbekistan’s territory, and also has large oil and natural gas reserves that have just started being developed in the past ten years. The special rights Karakalpakstan had might have been nominal, particularly since ethnic Karakalpaks make up only about one-third of Karakalpakstan’s two million inhabitants. But these distinctions, albeit it only on paper, were important to the Karakalpaks, and when the proposed amendments were published at the end of June 2022, tensions started rising immediately in Karakalpakstan. On July 1, Karakalpak community leaders went to apply for permission to hold a public meeting against the planned changes affecting Karakalpakstan. The group’s leader, activist and lawyer Dauletmurat Tazhimuratov, was detained. Word spread and a large group numbering at least several thousand gathered, protesting peacefully outside the administration building in the Karakalpakstan capital, Nukus. When police and security forces attempted to disperse the crowd, violence broke out, and when it was over and order finally restored, at least 21 people were dead and 243 injured. Nearly all the casualties were Karakalpaks, and police and security forces were accused of using unnecessary and indiscriminate force against the protesters. News of the proposed amendments, and the ensuing violence spread to the Karakalpak communities in other countries, notably to neighboring Kazakhstan, where, according to various estimates, anywhere from 50,000 to 200,000 Karakalpaks live. Most have Kazakh citizenship, but some simply work in Kazakhstan and remain citizens of Uzbekistan. Karakalpak activists in Kazakhstan followed events in Karakalpakstan in late June and early July 2022 and posted about it on social networks, sometimes with words of support for the protesters. After Uzbek authorities had restored order in Kazakhstan and arrested more than 500 people, Uzbek officials requested the Kazakh government detain Karakalpaks in Kazakhstan who had been...

1 month ago