Nursultan Nazarbayev meets with energy minister
At the meeting, the Head of State was briefed on the current situation in the fuel market and modernization of domestic oil refineries.
Nursultan Nazarbayev noted that the fuel shortage in the country resulted from the fact that the Government of Kazakhstan and the Ministry of Energy took untimely actions for providing the market with oil products.
"The Ministry of Energy is accountable for the problems in the country's fuel and energy sector, which include providing the domestic market with fuel and lubricants as well. The deficit situation in the country showed that the Government and the Energy Ministry were negligent and irresponsible. In May, you signed the schedule for repair of the refineries. And you knew that the repair of two of three refineries would start in autumn. Similar things happen every year. Since you knew about that, you should have prepared and delivered appropriate quantity of energy sources to provide the population with fuel and lubricants. You did not do that," the President of Kazakhstan said.
Moreover, the Head of State pointed to the low effectiveness of Ministry's previous efforts to stabilize the fuel market situation.
"You put forward a lot of good initiatives supported by me and the Government. It was proposed to abolish state price control so that to avoid a fuel shortage. However, the market is short of fuel again. Therefore, at the suggestion of the Government, I reprimanded you. And this is equivalent to a dismissal," Nursultan Nazarbayev said.
Besides, Kanat Bozumbayev reported to the President of Kazakhstan on the progress of the Pavlodar and Atyrau refineries modernization.
"The modernization of the two refineries will be completed this year. In November, we plan to launch the Pavlodar refinery. The Atyrau refinery is expected to be completed by 16th of December. A fluid catalytic cracking unit will be used there for the first time. Therefore, we plan to increase the volume of oil products and improve the quality," the Energy Minister said.
Kanat Bozumbayev informed the Head of the State of the plans for the construction of a fluid catalytic cracking unit at the Shymkent oil refinery, which will also give the opportunity to produce high-octane gasoline.
The Energy Minister assured Nursultan Nazarbayev that next year Kazakhstan's market will be provided with high-quality fuel, including jet fuel.
At the end of the meeting, the President of Kazakhstan once again reminded of the accountability for sustaining the fuel market and charged the minister with a task to take all respective actions for securing from any fuel shortage.