Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08ASHGABAT1131
2008-08-27 12:29:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Ashgabat
Cable title:
TURKMENISTAN: MURADOV OUT AS STATE AGENCY
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C O N F I D E N T I A L ASHGABAT 001131
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, EEB
PLEASE PASS TO USTDA DAN STEIN
ENERGY FOR EKIMOFF/THOMPSON
COMMERCE FOR HUEPER
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/27/2018
TAGS: PGOV EPET TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: MURADOV OUT AS STATE AGENCY
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
REF: ASHGABAT 1103
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Sylvia R. Curran for reasons 1.4(B) an
d (D).
C O N F I D E N T I A L ASHGABAT 001131
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, EEB
PLEASE PASS TO USTDA DAN STEIN
ENERGY FOR EKIMOFF/THOMPSON
COMMERCE FOR HUEPER
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/27/2018
TAGS: PGOV EPET TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: MURADOV OUT AS STATE AGENCY
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
REF: ASHGABAT 1103
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Sylvia R. Curran for reasons 1.4(B) an
d (D).
1. (C) Chevron's Country Manager called us late on August 27
to report that, when he attempted to send documents to the
Executive Director of the State Agency for Management and Use
of Hydrocarbon Resources, his intern was told that
Bayrammurat Muradov is no longer Executive Director.
Instead, the Chairman of the TurkmenGaz State Concern,
Yagshygeldi Kakayev, has been appointed the new State Agency
Executive Director. (COMMENT: During a subsequent embassy
phone call to the State Agency, we were told that the
appointment of the unnamed new director still had not been
officially made. END COMMENT.) The Minister of Oil and Gas,
Baymurat Hojamuhammedov, was moved to replace Kakayev at
TurkmenGaz, and the deputy Minister of Oil and Gas has been
moved up to replace Hojamuhammedov. There is no news about
what is happening to Muradov, nor has there been any
indication whether anything has happened to the Deputy
Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers for Oil and Gas,
Tachberdi Tagiyev.
2. (C) Wintershall country manager Kal Sandhu confirmed to
emboff on August 27 that Muradov is out. Muradov called him
earlier on August 27 to say that he was leaving and that
Kakayev would replace him. According to Sandhu, Muradov was
in a very good mood, stating that either he would be
"appointed or ordered" to his next position. Muradov said he
had wanted to stay until the new Petroleum Law was published,
but then to move on. Muradov also reportedly stressed to
Sandhu that Kakayev is very smart and very highly regarded,
even by his own people. Kakayev, Muradov pointed out, was
the key negotiator for the production sharing agreement with
the China National Petroleum Corporation and is
Turkmenistan's main negotiator with Gazprom.
3. (C) COMMENT: We are still trying to find out exactly
what this means. There have been rumors since the State
Agency's establishment that Muradov and Tagiyev never really
got on: Muradov, though a strategic thinker, lacks a
technical knowledge of the hydrocarbon sector, while Tagiyev,
a technocrat, lacks a strategic perspective. On the surface,
this looks as if Turkmenistan's technocrats -- headed by
Tagiyev -- may have scored a victory. With the new Petroleum
Law giving the State Agency substantially beefed-up
responsibilities (reftel),however, Muradov -- and President
Berdimuhamedov, to whom he is reported to be quite close --
may have recognized that the State Agency needs somebody with
more technical expertise in place, and most oil company
representatives agree that there is nobody in the government
with more gas expertise than Kakayev. END COMMENT.
CURRAN
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, EEB
PLEASE PASS TO USTDA DAN STEIN
ENERGY FOR EKIMOFF/THOMPSON
COMMERCE FOR HUEPER
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/27/2018
TAGS: PGOV EPET TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: MURADOV OUT AS STATE AGENCY
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
REF: ASHGABAT 1103
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Sylvia R. Curran for reasons 1.4(B) an
d (D).
1. (C) Chevron's Country Manager called us late on August 27
to report that, when he attempted to send documents to the
Executive Director of the State Agency for Management and Use
of Hydrocarbon Resources, his intern was told that
Bayrammurat Muradov is no longer Executive Director.
Instead, the Chairman of the TurkmenGaz State Concern,
Yagshygeldi Kakayev, has been appointed the new State Agency
Executive Director. (COMMENT: During a subsequent embassy
phone call to the State Agency, we were told that the
appointment of the unnamed new director still had not been
officially made. END COMMENT.) The Minister of Oil and Gas,
Baymurat Hojamuhammedov, was moved to replace Kakayev at
TurkmenGaz, and the deputy Minister of Oil and Gas has been
moved up to replace Hojamuhammedov. There is no news about
what is happening to Muradov, nor has there been any
indication whether anything has happened to the Deputy
Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers for Oil and Gas,
Tachberdi Tagiyev.
2. (C) Wintershall country manager Kal Sandhu confirmed to
emboff on August 27 that Muradov is out. Muradov called him
earlier on August 27 to say that he was leaving and that
Kakayev would replace him. According to Sandhu, Muradov was
in a very good mood, stating that either he would be
"appointed or ordered" to his next position. Muradov said he
had wanted to stay until the new Petroleum Law was published,
but then to move on. Muradov also reportedly stressed to
Sandhu that Kakayev is very smart and very highly regarded,
even by his own people. Kakayev, Muradov pointed out, was
the key negotiator for the production sharing agreement with
the China National Petroleum Corporation and is
Turkmenistan's main negotiator with Gazprom.
3. (C) COMMENT: We are still trying to find out exactly
what this means. There have been rumors since the State
Agency's establishment that Muradov and Tagiyev never really
got on: Muradov, though a strategic thinker, lacks a
technical knowledge of the hydrocarbon sector, while Tagiyev,
a technocrat, lacks a strategic perspective. On the surface,
this looks as if Turkmenistan's technocrats -- headed by
Tagiyev -- may have scored a victory. With the new Petroleum
Law giving the State Agency substantially beefed-up
responsibilities (reftel),however, Muradov -- and President
Berdimuhamedov, to whom he is reported to be quite close --
may have recognized that the State Agency needs somebody with
more technical expertise in place, and most oil company
representatives agree that there is nobody in the government
with more gas expertise than Kakayev. END COMMENT.
CURRAN