Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 28 / Trend E. Kosolapova/
Kazakhstan has not held any negotiations on tolling operations (crude oil processing in another country and its return to the country after processing) with Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Russia, China, European countries and any other countries, spokesman for the Kazakh Oil and Gas Ministry Abzal Nurkasymov told Trend over phone on Tuesday.
"We conduct no negotiations on tolling operations in Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Russia, China and Europe. Thus, no agreements were reached on this issue," Nurkasymov said.
Earlier, Kazakh Oil and Gas Minister Sauat Mynbayev said that Kazakhstan did not exclude a possibility of making agreements on tolling operations in Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, China and at European refineries of the Rompetrol Group owned by the Kazakh National Company KazMunaiGas in 2012.
Mynbayev said that Kazakh refineries produce light oil products from 14.2 million tons of crude oil. However, Kazakhstan needs 1.6 million tons of light oil more, which can be produced in Kazakhstan only following refineries reconstruction which will take much time.
Meanwhile, Nurkasymov confirmed the possibility of these negotiations in nearest future.
"We will choose partners for such operations reasoning from our economic benefits and partners' reliability," Nurkasymov said.
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