Kazakhstan to introduce ban on imports of gasoline and diesel fuel

March 5 Kazakhstan will introduce a ban on imports of gasoline and diesel fuel from the neighboring Russia, a Tengrinews.kz journalist reports, citing Magzum Mirzagaliyev, Vice Minister of Energy, as saying.

“From March 5 we are introducing a 45-day-long ban on imports of gasoline and diesel fuel from Russia”, he said, elaborating that “the two countries have agreed that in the current year Kazakhstan will import 1 100 000 tons of gasoline and around 760 000 tons of diesel fuel. At the start of the year Kazakhstan has imported a substantial part of this volume; to make sure we can import the rest of the volume more evenly throughout the year, preventing fuel shortages, we have decided to introduce the ban. It is a measure to regulate the market”. According to him, the decision will not have an impact on the prices for gasoline.

“The measure will have no impact on the price of fuel. The Energy Ministry has set price ceilings for both gasoline and diesel fuel”, he said, emphasizing the ban will be in place for only 45 days.