Kazakhstan ratifies protocol renewing oil, petroleum product supply agreement with Russia

ASTANA. Oct 16 (Interfax) - Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has signed a law ratifying a protocol that renews Kazakhstan's agreement with Russia on supplies of oil and petroleum products.

The law was published on Friday in official Kazakh media.

The protocol was signed in Astana on November 27, 2024. It renews the agreement of December 9, 2010, which expired on January 1, 2024, and updates some of its provisions.

Energy Minister Erlan Akkenzhenov told the parliament earlier that the protocol keeps the annual agreement of indicative supply balances and the exchange of information between the two countries' authorities. It also keeps the option of duty-free imports of petroleum products from Russia.

"The agreement is important for Kazakhstan's energy security and for the stable functioning of its domestic petroleum product market," Akkenzhenov said. "It provides an international legal basis for coordinating the actions of the two countries' authorities, lets us draw up petroleum product balances on time and take the necessary measures if shortages of some products threaten."

He said that if the protocol were not ratified, the intergovernmental mechanism for coordinating oil and petroleum product supplies between the two countries would lapse. That could make supplies less predictable and limit the ability to respond quickly to shortage risks on the domestic market.

The parliament said in its opinion on the law that keeping the duty-free regime matters for meeting domestic demand for some petroleum products. It put the expected savings in 2026 at about 30 billion tenge, including 5.59 billion tenge on gasoline, 15.75 billion tenge on diesel and 8.61 billion tenge on jet fuel.