All three refineries in Kazakhstan to produce jet fuel: Energy Minister

ASTANA. KAZINFORM All three oil refineries based in Kazakhstan will produce Kerosene-type jet fuel, Kazakh Minister of Energy Kanat Bozumbayev said, Kazinform correspondent reports.

"Our country produces this type of fuel, at least used to produce before its modernization, only at the Shymkent oil refinery. There is a small output in Atyrau. This is due to the immaturity of technology at our refineries and the fact that the Pavlodar refinery has been reoriented to rather heavy Russian oil as it has a high content of dissolved sulfur. These refineries did not have fuel desulphurization facilities. For now, that kind of facility has been built in Pavlodar, and in Atyrau too. These two refineries will produce Kerosene-type jet fuel. The standard of the fuel will slightly change to the Western one," he told a briefing in the Government of Kazakhstan on Tuesday.

According to him, the management team of Air Astana asked the Government of the country for help amid fuel crisis [Septermber-October 2017].

"That plant [the Shymkent oil refinery] has always covered nearly 50 percent of the market demand, the other 50 percent they bought from abroad, mostly from the Russian Federation. It so happened that last summer Russia also had a need for jet fuel. Therefore, Russian refineries refused to sell jet fuel to us and the head of Air Astana, Peter Foster, asked the Kazakh Government to get involved," the head of the Energy Ministry said.

Kanat Bozumbayev said that, as a result, it was agreed to render assistance in purchasing jet fuel, if needed.

"Now, Air Astana has enough fuel up until January 2018. As to Scat Air Company, they, probably, supposed that we should also help them in that matter. That is not so. There is a coordinating institution - the Kazakh Ministry of Investment and Development that assigns the schedules for supplying Kerosene-type jet fuel produced by the Shymkent oil refinery. We produce jet fuel and say ‘distribute it among the airlines on your own' as there is a shortage. It is not our issue," Kanat Bozumbayev concluded.