2000-01-10 Kazak Politics & MacroEconomics - Oil Export Limit
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Oil Export Limit for 2000 Is Set at 22 m Tonnes
Kazakhstan will limit oil exports in 2000 to no more than 22 million tonnes, Kanat Bozumbayev, head of oil and gas at the Ministry of Energy, said on 29 December. The limit aims to ensure that domestic refineries receive adequate supplies of crude, he said. Deliveries to the domestic market declined steeply in 1999 due to rising world oil prices. In the first 11 months of the year Kazakh refineries processed just 5.35 million tonnes of oil, 32.1% less than in the same period last year. Domestic refineries need to receive at least 9.5 million tonnes of crude oil in order to produce enough gasoline to meet domestic demand, he said.
In the first 10 months of 1999 Kazakhstan exported 19.2 million tonnes of oil.
The nation's three refineries - Atyrau (in the west), Pavlodar (north) and Shimkentnefteorgsintez (south) - have capacity to refine 19 million tonnes of crude a year. The Pavlodar refinery is geared to process oil produced at Russian fields in Siberia. It was idle for much of the year due to shortages of crude.
Last year Kazakhstan produced over 26 million tonnes of oil and condensate. It expects that figure to rise to 28.5 million tonnes in 2000. (Interfax, Bloomberg)