Azernews.Az

By Kamila Aliyeva

Kazakhstan’s Energy Ministry said that there was an excess of AI-92 gasoline on the market, and therefore the import of gasoline from Russia was banned.

This was announced at a press conference by Vice Minister of Energy Bolat Akchulakov, Central Asian media outlets reported.

“Today, after the modernization of the refinery is completed, there is an excess of gasoline in the country. This is mainly AI-92. And the ban is stipulated by the bilateral agreement between Kazakhstan and Russia within the framework of the EAEU,” he said.

In this regard, the Ministry of Energy decided to ban the import of gasoline from Russia.

“This decision was made because of a surplus of gasoline. All consumers feel - the price does not increase, it is lower than the level of January or even December of last year. Now the order is being coordinated, registered in the Ministry of Justice. I expect that it will be released on August 10, when the last remarks will be eliminated,” the official said.

According to the vice minister, an agreement with Russia on the volumes of fuel delivery was signed when Kazakhstan experienced a deep fuel shortage.

“Historically, Kazakhstan imported about 900,000 tons of high-octane gasoline, about 400,000 diesel fuel and 250,000-270,000 tons of aviation kerosene. After the factories have been modernized, we do not have the need in imported AI-92, that's why we are going to introduce a ban on import. Our Russian colleagues have been warned and they do not mind this and do not see this as a restriction. On the contrary, they believe that they will be able to sell these volumes of oil products to third markets, charging a duty, which is even more profitable. The prohibition concerns only the supply by rail. Perhaps, some volumes will be imported by road in the border areas, but there will not be large deliveries,” he added.

The volume of gasoline production at three oil refineries of Kazakhstan, namely, Pavlodar, Atyrau and Shymkent, is expected to stand at 4.102 million tons by late 2018.

Modernization of the Pavlodar petrochemical plant was completed in December 2017. At the same time, the modernization of Atyrau oil refinery has been completed.

As for the reconstruction and modernization of the Shymkent oil refinery, the first stage was completed in June 2017, and the second stage was finished on March 15, 2018. Currently, commissioning work is underway there, which is expected to be completed by September 2018.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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