ASTANA (TCA) — After the ongoing modernization of Kazakhstan’s three oil refineries is complete, domestic crude oil processing will increase from today’s 14.5 million to 17.5 million tons and the country would not be dependent on motor fuel imports, Kazakh Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbayev said at a press conference on March 2, the official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reported.
The minister said that modernization of Pavlodar and Atyrau refineries will be completed in the second half of 2017 and the completion of the modernization of Shymkent oil refinery is planned for the first half of 2018.
“In his address, the Head of State stressed the need to increase the volume of oil refining. Modernization of our refineries will increase the production of light oil, gasoline, diesel fuel, and jet fuel,” Bozumbayev said.
In his words, the Energy Ministry expects that in 2019 Kazakhstan will fully provide itself with domestic oil products and put an end to the country’s dependence on the fuel import.
To date, Kazakhstan’s three oil refineries meet 70 percent of the country’s needs for motor fuel, with the remaining 30 percent of the fuel being imported from Russia.
The minister also said that the government could fix the prices of fuel at Kazakhstan’s gas stations to prevent them from growing, but in that case Russian suppliers would stop fuel deliveries which will cause a fuel deficit.
