Landlocked Mongolia, sandwiched between Russia and China, is mostly known in the natural resources sector for the huge Oyu Tolgoi copper prospect, operated by Rio Tinto .

The country is challenging because of its extreme weather and a legal system and young democracy that have caused problems for international investors, including tax wrangles and contractual disputes.

Petro Matad’s CEO Mike Buck said in an interview Mongolia was offering favourable terms for oil exploration and had untapped potential because, during the era of Soviet control over Mongolia, Russia had plenty of oil of its own, while China explored its reserves just over the border.

“There is no difference between the geology (compared with neighbouring prolific oil basins in China), but the exploration history is different,” Buck said. “Everybody knows the geology is the same, but no-one has been able to prove it by producing at a commercial rate.”

Although oil demand growth is expected to slow as the world shifts towards electric transport, Buck said Mongolia would need crude for a refinery it plans to build, with help from India.

A senior official from Engineers India Ltd, the state-owned Indian company providing consultancy, said a draft feasibility study is ready, but declined to give further details.

The refinery is expected to have a capacity of 30,000 barrels per day, while Mongolia’s oil output is around 21,000 bpd and declining, Buck said, citing official Mongolian figures.

Petro Matad has three exploration blocks totalling 60,000 square kilometres - one in the east, near Mongolia’s producing fields and two in central western Mongolia.

The drilling of four wells over the three blocks will begin by the end of the second quarter and be completed before the drilling season ends in November.

The block in the east could come onstream within 18 months of any discovery because it is near existing facilities operated by Petrochina, Buck said.

By the end of this year, Petro Matad’s exploration spending will have totalled $100 million since it began operating in Mongolia in 2006, including cash spent on seismic surveys and previous drilling. It has been raised through its stock market listing and $16 million late last year came from British-based institutional investors and U.S. funding.

Mongolia depends on Russia for almost all its oil products, which account for nearly a fifth of its import bill, central bank statistics show. (Additional reporting by Terrence Edwards and Munkhchimeg Davaasharav in Ulaanbaatar and Promit Mukherjee in Mumbai, editing by David Evans)

The project has 6 component parts. The main flyover between Olympics Street and Ikh Mongol Uls Street, passing over Narnii zam (Sun road) and the 406th railway crossing will be 470-meter long, 16.5-meter wide and will have 4 lanes.

The road on the east side of the National Amusement Park will be closed for a year-and-a-half due to construction work.

A total of 73 percent of Mongolians drink instant coffee, 20 percent medium coffee and the remainder Americano, the national survey said. Mongolians spend about MNT three billion on coffee in a year.

Coffee consumption is clearly rising: Mongolia imported 93.9 tonnes of coffee worth USD 803 thousand in 2017.

The Party representatives led by Secretary-General Ts.Tuvaan held a press conference today at the party's headquarters, holding an ordinance dated March 20 and signed by Party Chairman S.Erdene, which effectively excludes the former Minister from the party membership.

According to the Secretary-General, the party’s corresponding bodies have taken urgent measures after media reports surfaced regarding DP member S.Bayartsogt’s alleged link to corruption, thus resulting in expulsion.

Following its meeting today, the DP Political Council issued a statement saying, “The party believes that an individual must be held responsible before the law despite of his rank and power if he is found guilty by the court for establishing disadvantageous agreement on behalf of Mongolia or accepting bribe. We demand immediate and resolute actions to settle the recent corruption allegations against the members of former Prime Minister S.Bayar’s Cabinet and other Mongolian politicians.”

The statement also cites the possibility of reconsidering the 2009 Oyu Tolgoi Investment Agreement if S.Bayartsogt is convicted.

The Independent Authority Against Corruption of Mongolia (IAAC) also reported today that it is cooperating with the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland on the investigation of a criminal case on former Minister S.Bayartsogt. The press release also confirmed the seizure of a certain of amount of money in a Swiss bank account. 
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The prime minister explained that the current situation on the global raw materials market and with world trade as a whole had a negative effect on the two countries’ trade cooperation. Despite that, trade volume between Russia and China has increased by 20.8 percent year-on-year, reaching $84.07 billion in 2017.

“…We must understand that our countries are the largest neighboring states. I am confident that the stable development of relations… and cooperation with Russia is beneficial for both sides and the whole world,” he said.

In 2017, Chinese exports to Russia grew by 14.8 percent, to $42.88 billion; according to data from China’s General Administration of Customs. Chinese imports of Russian goods increased by almost 28 percent, to more than $40 billion. In December alone, trade turnover between the two nations stood at $8.13 billion.

The sides have been steadily expanding economic cooperation and will make additional efforts to increase trade to $200 billion in the coming years, said Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. He added that preferential trade rules between the countries are being considered, which would increase the use of the ruble and yuan in settlements.

The two nations have established a Russian-Chinese investment fund worth 68 billion yuan (over $10 billion) to develop trade, economic investment, and scientific cooperation.

As parliament discusses a bill to prevent interest rates on commercial bank loans from exceeding 18 percent, Bank of Mongolia president Bayartsaikhan Nadmid proposed an alternative strategy during a forum on Tuesday.

“The central bank supports the strategy to decrease interest rates by enabling a macroeconomic environment for it, not by force or control,” he said.

Mongolia secured a $5.5 billion bailout with the IMF last May after an economic crisis left the landlocked Asian nation struggling to pay off its debts and sent its currency, the tugrik, into a tailspin.

The terms of the deal forced the government to raise taxes and cut spending, and also urged Mongolia to strengthen the independence of its banking system and make it less vulnerable to political interference.

Most of the austerity measures have been enacted by the ruling Mongolian People’s Party, but opposition politicians have expressed concern about the economic impact of high interest rates and are seeking powers to force banks to make cuts.

Mongolia has some of the world’s highest interest rates, averaging 19.4 percent in January, according to the central bank. The high rates have reduced economic activity and discouraged small businesses, analysts say.

Inflation currently stands at 6.9 percent, according to the Bank of Mongolia, below an 8 percent target.

Mongolia began subsidising mortgages in 2013 allowing homes to be bought at a rate of 8 percent. According to the Mongolian Mortgage Corporation, which manages the portfolio, total outstanding mortgages as of December 2016 stood at around 4 trillion tugrik ($1.67 billion).

However, the IMF has discouraged the central bank from participating in programmes it describes as “quasi-fiscal activity”.

Demberel Sambuu, a former legislator and head of an economic think tank, said demand for lower interest rates has been on the rise in recent years, but forcing banks to comply was not the solution.

“Fixing the maximum rates on loan interest would be an inefficient way,” he said.

$1 = 2,398 tugrik Reporting by Munkhchimeg Davaasharav and Terrence Edwards Editing by David Stanway and Sam Holmes

It was highlighted that underground lateral development made good progress during 2017, completing 6.1 equivalent kilometres for the year which was in-line with the 2016 Technical Report expectations of the company. During 2017, total underground expansion spending totalled USD 835.7 million, meeting guidance and resulting in total underground project spending since January 1, 2016 of approximately USD 1.1 billion. In the document of financial results, it was noted that Oyu Tolgoi expects to produce 125,000 to 155,000 tonnes of copper and 240,000 to 280,000 ounces of gold in concentrates in 2018. On March 15, 2018, Oyu Tolgoi filed a notice of dispute with the Government of Mongolia for the January 2018 tax assessment.

The competent authorities concerned found out that the dinosaur fossils were smuggled from Mongolia into South Korea and France, the department said in a statement.

A South Korean court has officially ordered returning of the dinosaur fossils, and the French side said the fossils will be returned to its native Mongolia if the country submits a petition for the recovering of the fossils.

The fossils originated from Mongolia's southern Umnugobi Province, which is known for its large numbers of dinosaur findings, according to the Mongolian Paleontological Institute.

Under Mongolian law, significant fossil discoveries cannot be permanently exported or sold to non-Mongolians, even if privately owned.