ISTANBUL - Doğan Enerji acquires 50 percent of the shares of two companies formed to tap into Iraqi oil. The companies will search and develop oil in the Arbil and Khalakan regions. The move comes after Genel Enerji merges with Britain’s Heritage Oil and China’s Sinopec offers to buy Addax.
LONDON / MOSCOW - The ’Kazakh miracle’ fades away amid the global crisis, while the former chairman of Bank TuranAlem is hiding from the government. Mukhtar Ablyazov fled the country in February, just before the state issued an arrest warrant for him. Now he says the failure of the Kazakh financial system is a result of the government’s ’criminal recklessness’
BEIJING - CHICAGO - Energy giant PetroChina overtakes Exxon Mobil in market capitalization, becoming the world’s most valuable company. PetroChina shares jumped 30 percent this year as its market value rose to $336.4 billion. But Exxon still leads in sales and profits.
Using its vast cash reserves, China is on a spending spree in Central Asia, handing out huge loans and bolstering its influence in return. Last month the Asian giant handed over $10 billion in loans to Kazakhstan, receiving a 49 percent stake in one of the country’s biggest oil companies. Investments in Tajikistan are also rising
Turkey, Israel agreed to start to feasibility studies on the Mediterranean Pipeline Project (Medstream) that would consist of five pipelines that would carry water, natural gas, oil, electricity and fibreoptics from Turkey's Mediterranean coast to Israel. (UPDATED)
Toyota's profit for the January-March quarter sank 28 percent from the previous year as a strengthening yen and lagging North American sales chipped away at the Japanese automaker's earnings. Toyota, the maker of the Prius gas-electric hybrid and Camry sedan, forecast even tougher times ahead.