Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 30
By Elena Kosolapova - Trend: Russian Bashneft and LUKOIL will supply additional gasoline and diesel fuel to Kazakhstan, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said, RIA-Novosti reported.
According to the minister, Bashneft will supply additional 13,000 metric tons of gasoline and 5,000 metric tons of diesel fuel within the week.
LUKOIL will supply an additional 8,000 tons of gasoline and diesel fuel until the end of the month.
"Kazakh Energy Minister asked us [for additional supplies]," Novak said.
Kazakhstan experiences shortage of petroleum, oil and lubricants and seeks for additional sources of POL supplies.
Three large refineries - Pavlodar refinery, Atyrau refinery and Shymkent refinery - operate in Kazakhstan and their total processing volume nears 13 million metric tons.
Around one third of the fuels and lubricants consumed in Kazakhstan is traditionally imported from Russia.
Earlier, Kazakhstan's Deputy Minister of Energy Uzakbai Karabalin said that there is a difficult situation in Russia, due to the accident at its Achinsk refinery, scheduled repair work at some other Russian refineries and petroleum products supplies to Crimea.
Therefore, Kazakhstan negotiates with the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) to purchase fuels and lubricants and thereby, to cover the shortage of petroleum products in its domestic market. The country also holds talks with Turkmenistan to purchase fuels and lubricants.
Edited by T.T.
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