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The tank farms of all three Kazakhstan refineries -- in Shymkent, Atyrau and Pavlodar -- have been filled up to the gills, Oilnews.kz writes. The refineries are now dispatching their products to oil storage facilities all around Kazakhstan.
The ban on export of oil products introduced by the Kazakhstan government on July 1, 2013 is deteriorating the situation for the local refineries that have already overstocked the bulk plants with their goods.
“All the tank farms of the refineries are full and other bulk plants are sealed. Owners of these other plants are charging us for the safe storage virtually daily. If the regulations were proper and timely, the ban would have been lifted, the excessive oil products would have been exported and the country’s budget would have received additional profits,” the plants say.
According to them, the best time to lift the export ban from Kazakhstan oil products is now, as fuel prices have spiked upwards in Russia. “Besides, we should bear in mind that Kazakhstan has to pay Russia with crude for every ton of petrol it imports from Russia. The ban on export of Kazakhstan oil products is working against the local fuel producers and against the country’s interests,” the experts say.
They said lifting of the ban to unload the market and oil storage facilities would be the best way out of the current situation.