Kazakhstan, Astana, May 9 / Trend D. Mukhtarov /
Kazakh oil refiners are hoping the situation in the domestic fuel and lubricant market will change for the better after the government's decision on the limitation of petrol imports from Russia came into force, director general of the Pavlodar Petrochemical Plant Shukhrat Danbai told Trend by phone on Wednesday.
"We hope the situation in the domestic fuel and lubricant market will change for the better after the government's decision on the limitation of petrol imports from the Russian Federation comes into force on May 7," Danbai said.
He said the Kazakh Pavlodar refinery was faced with the problem of overstocking its own products due to abundance of Russian fuels and lubricants in the Kazakh market.
"Despite the government's decision on the limitation of petrol imports from Russia coming into force, I think it is slightly late," he said. "If it had been made before, such a situation would not have arisen. At least three months will be required for our own petrol reserves to be transported normally from oil tanks to the local market."
Earlier, Kazakh Oil Minister Sauat Mynbayev promised that the process of supplying Russian fuel and lubricant supplies to the Kazakh market will be restricted in early 2013, citing a glut of oil products in the domestic market and the need for delivering Kazakh oil to its own enterprises, rather than Russia, in exchange for Russian fuels and lubricants.
"On several occasions, the Pavlodar plant was on the verge of stopping," he said. "This is tied up with the fact that large quantities of Russian petrol Euro-2 were imported to the Kazakh market at dumping prices. Some 610,000 tons or more than a half of the annual rate were delivered to the market during the four months."
Earlier this year, Russia ceased Euro-2 petrol production. The process of delivering all unsold volumes to the Kazakh market started.
"Overstocking has been observed at the Pavlodar Petrochemical Plant, Atyrau and Shymkent refineries," he said.
"We did not give up the supplied oil," he said. "We have accumulated 50,000 tons in the tanks of KazTransOil and about 150,000 tons in our tanks. Some 97,000 tons of petroleum products, namely AI-80 and AI-92 petrol were shipped to tank farms in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Semey, Kostanay, Karaganda and Petropavlovsk so as to not stop the plant, but the tank farms refused to take our petrol."
He added that the petrol exports would be a good way out of the situation.
It was planned to process 1.45 million tons of oil at Pavlodar Petrochemical Plant for the first quarter of this year.
Pavlodar Petrochemical Plant included the KazMunaiGas National Company and was built in 1978, with processes tolling (West Siberian oil) supplied from Russia via a pipeline.
Two refineries operate in Shymkent (south) and Atyrau (west) in Kazakhstan and KazMunaiGas controls all refineries.