According to Deputy Energy Minister Kaiyrkhan Tutkyshbayev, the fuel crisis in Russia will not affect fuel availability in Kazakhstan. However, the country is reluctant to export gasoline to avoid domestic shortages.
Responding to journalists’ questions about how the fuel crisis in Russia might affect Kazakhstan and the availability of gasoline in the country, Tutkyshbayev said Kazakhstan is not dependent on gasoline supplies from Russia and meets domestic demand through its own production.
«All the necessary fuel reserves have been formed, so we do not expect any shortages. We believe it [the fuel crisis in Russia] will not affect us. Yes, it is a neighboring market, but given our domestic capacity and forecasts, we do not expect a fuel shortage any time soon,» Tutkyshbayev emphasized.
Journalists also asked whether Kazakhstan could capitalize on its sufficient domestic fuel reserves by supplying gasoline to neighboring countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, which are more dependent on Russia.
According to Tutkyshbayev, if Kazakhstan receives a request for fuel from a neighboring country, it is prepared to consider it, but only if domestic fuel supplies remain secure.
«We will consider supplying fuel to neighboring countries if it is possible to do so on mutually beneficial terms. Currently, we have no issues with supplying fuel and lubricants to neighboring countries. However, first of all, we need to provide gasoline and diesel fuel to our own citizens. If we sell fuel to anyone else, we’ll have the fuel crisis you were talking about. Therefore, our first priority, as I said, is to ensure there is no shortage in our domestic market and that our citizens have no problems obtaining either gasoline or diesel,» the official said.
Tutkyshbayev also denied reports that Russia had approached Kazakhstan about fuel supplies. He confirmed that Kyrgyzstan had officially contacted Kazakhstan and that the request is currently under consideration.
