Additional gas to be imported from Russia: KazMunaiGas Onimderi

KazMunaiGaz will import addition AI-92 gas from Russia to Kazakhstan, Tengrinews reports citing the official website of KazMunaiGas Refinery and Marketing.

“Despite the negative economic effect and possible loses, (KazMunaiGas Onimderi JSC) signed additional agreements with Russian companies (Bashneft, LUKOIL and others) to import 34 thousand tons of oil products, including 10 thousand tons of AI-92 gasoline, 5 thousand tons of AI-95 gasoline and 19 thousand tons of diesel fuel. The dates for the import of the oil products are the end of August and the beginning of September 2014,” the press office reported.

6.2 thousand tons (62%) of the planned 10 thousand tons of AI-92 gas have already been imported. As for diesel fuel, 9.4 thousand tons have already been imported out of the 34-thousan-ton bulk.

“In addition to the amount of oil products required to satisfy the increased demand in Kazakhstan, it is necessary to import additional 176 thousand tons of oil products in September, including 140 thousand tons of AI-92 gas and 36 thousand tons of diesel fuel,” the website of KazMunaiGas Refinery and Marketing said.

As of today, the company has finished negotiations with a number of Russian companies. The company is also working on arranging additional import of 50 thousand tons of AI-92 gas and 35 thousand tons of diesel fuel during September, 2014.

The situation with availability of fuel in Kazakhstan has not changed much in the past sevelar days. KazMunaiGas Onimderi and other companies are working to stabilize the market and ensure immediate availability of oil products, in particular AI-92 fuel. KazMunaiGas holds 18% of the gas market and 17% of the diesel market in the country.

On August 21, Yerlan Koibagarov, Vice Director General for Marketing of KazMunaiGas Refinery and Marketing, stressed that it was necessary to raise gasoline prices by 10-15%. In a couple hours after that, the Minister of National Economy of Kazakhstan Yerbolat Dossayev signed an order increasing the price caps on retail sales of petroleum products. This raised AI-92/93 prices to 128 tenge per liter ($0.70).

Meanwhile, Kazakhstani specialists predict more gas price spikes in the future for the most popular types of gas due to Kazakhstan’s dependence on imported oil products.

By Gyuzel Kamalova