BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 23
Trend:
The production of diesel fuel in Kazakhstan amounted to 3.2 million tons from January through August 2021, which is 9 percent more than in 2020, Trend reports.
Record production of diesel fuel is expected in 2021. The Ministry of Energy is projecting the production of almost 5 million tons of fuel.
The completion of the upgrading of the refinery allowed increasing the production of diesel fuel by almost 1 million tons from 2017, the director of the Oil Transportation and Refining Department of the Ministry of Energy Baurzhan Salimgereev said.
There is a significant increase in diesel fuel consumption in 2021, the peak occurred in August 2021. The volume of consumption amounted to 519,000 tons, which is 84,000 tons more than in 2020, and 37,000 more than in 2019, he noted.
This is a record consumption figure in the entire history of the Kazakh domestic market.
One of the main reasons for the increase in consumption is the seasonal increase in transit freight traffic. Today, diesel fuel is cheaper in Kazakhstan than in neighboring countries. Due to the high difference, all transit cargo transport is refueled in Kazakhstan, the director added.
The city gas stations sell about 70 percent gasoline and 30 percent of diesel fuel, while gas stations located on highways sell 70 percent of diesel.
The renovation of the Pavlodar Oil Chemistry Refinery is planned for October. It will certainly affect the production of diesel fuel, but at the same time supplies to agricultural producers will also decrease due to the completion of autumn fieldwork, which will reduce the overall level of consumption.
In order to avoid interruptions in supplies, large consumers of diesel fuel, such as the mining and metallurgical complex, subsurface users, as well as gas station networks, need to consider importing the missing volumes, the speaker concluded.
According to the indicative balance with the Russian Federation for 2021, the volume of possible imports to Kazakhstan amount to 530,000 tons. In fact, 145,000 tons were imported over 8 months. It is possible to import 385,000 by the end of 2021. There are no import restrictions. The Ministry is working on the issue of importing the necessary volumes with colleagues from the Russian Federation.