Kazakhstan may increase crude export duties

energy

Kazakhstan may increase crude export duties

By SRI ⋅ July 18, 2008 ⋅

(SRI) - Kazakhstan may increase crude export duties to stabilize the prices on the domestic market of oil products, said Kazakh Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sauat Mynbayev, according to Interfax.

“The duties should be higher, and this is the only way to attain the result,” Mynbayev told journalists in a recess of a ministry conference attended by representatives of major domestic producers and buyers of oil products in Astana on Thursday.

“However, we won’t be able to significantly increase [export duties] this year, because a sharp increase would make companies unable to implement their investment programs,” he said.

The retail prices of gasoline and diesel fuel in Kazakhstan have been continuously increasing in the past months outpacing inflation. The price hikes have angered the population and caused protests by farmers getting ready for the harvest.

Talking about growing prices for gasoline and diesel fuel, Mynbayev said, “What we will have to do unless the situation improves immediately is impose additional restrictions on exports of crude for those mineral developers who fail to supply the domestic market. A decision has been made that oil supply on the domestic market should be increased considerably.”