BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 25
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
Kazakhstan will extend prohibition of petroleum products transfer outside the country via road transport in order to avoid fuel and lubricants deficit, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Energy Nurlan Nogayev said, Trend reports with reference to the ministry.
Nogayev made the statement within the framework of the expanded meeting of the ministry’s collegium held on Feb. 25, 2020.
The minister added that the volume of oil processing increased by 4.4 percent in 2019 compared to 2018 amounting to 17.2 million tons. Volume of main petroleum products manufacturing increased by 9.5 percent in 2019 compared to 2018.
“The plan for 2020 is 12.5 million tons of petroleum products. The indicator was calculated based on the internal petroleum products consumption. At the same time, the country has reserves to increase processing volume if the need arises,” Nogayev said.
The minister said that due to the finished modernization of Kazakh oil refineries, internal demand for petroleum products is covered via local production.
“After the ban for petrol export to countries of Europe and Central Asia has been lifted, export volume amounted to 180,700 tons. In order to avoid fuels and lubricants deficit the ministry introduced prohibition for petrol transfer outside the country via road transport. I instruct the ministry to take necessary measures to extend the prohibition,” Nogayev said.
On Oct. 23, 2019 Kazakhstan has introduced the order "On some issues of the export of petroleum products from Kazakhstan", which prohibits export of petroleum products from the country.
According to the document, the export ban is introduced for six months and prohibits export of Kazakh petroleum products via cars, with the exception of export via cars’ gas tanks installed by the manufacturer in accordance with the technical specifications, as well as in separate containers the volume of which does not exceed 20 liters.
Earlier in 2019, Kanat Bozumbayev, then the minister of energy, said that Kazakh Ministry of Energy, State Revenue Committee and National Security Committee are to take measures to abolish Kazakh petrol smuggling to Russia.
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