Kazakhstan to continue fuel imports from Russia in 2014

In 2014 Kazakhstan plans to import a little more than a million tons of gasoline, mainly from Russia, Novosti-Kazakhstan reported citing Kazakhstan’s Oil and Gas Minister Uzakbai Karabalin, The Times of Central Asia reported on February 14.

In his words, domestic gasoline production this year will amount to 2.885 million tons and its consumption is expected at 4.168 million tons. “Like in the previous year, gasoline consumption exceeds production,” the minister told a news conference. “We will have the same situation as in the previous year with diesel fuel as well: this year we will produce 4.194 million tons with consumption at 4.946 million tons. Therefore we will import 600-650 thousand tons of diesel fuel. We import fuel mainly from Russia.”

The minister promised to keep gasoline prices from growing in the first quarter. “Our oil refineries will be working hard, producing fuel for the domestic market only,” he said. “Today any export of fuel from Kazakhstan is prohibited and all the fuel will be used in the domestic market.”

The Kazakh Ministry of Oil and Gas earlier said that Kazakhstan will refine 200 thousand tons of its crude oil in China under the tolling scheme in 2014.

Under the tolling scheme, crude from one country is refined for payment in another country and then delivered back as finished product, as gasoline.

The ministry said that in 2012 and 2013 Chinese oil refineries processed almost 339 thousand tons of Kazakh crude oil and Kazakhstan received around 150 thousand tons of high-octane gasoline produced from that crude.

Copyright: The Times of Central Asia, 2014