Kazakhstan starts supplying oil to China under tolling agreement
ASTANA. Nov 15 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan has started supplying crude oil to China under the tolling agreement, said the chief expert of petroleum products monitoring Murat Turydybekov.
"The first delivery of [Chinese petroleum products made from Kazakh crude oil] was made in October-November," he told reporters in Astana on Thursday.
"It's hard to give an exact number, but in October and November China delivered its first batch of petroleum products to Kazakhstan. The Sinooil network of gas stations will be distributing it," he added.
At the international conference "Central Asian Petroleum Market," he said that under the tolling agreement with China, Kazakh crude oil is processed at Dushanzi and Urumqi refineries.
"The Ministry of Oil and Gas suggests a supply of 1.5 million tonne of oil a year to China in return for 1 million tonnes of high octane gasoline," he said.
Kazakhstan has recently adopted bills "On the main pipeline" and "Amendments to the main pipeline operation and taxation" to provide a legal framework for the oil tolling agreement.
In October, Deputy Minister of Oil and Gas Bolat Akchulakov mentioned that 1.5 million tonnes of Kazakh crude oil would be supplied to Chinese refineries for processing. Earlier, Kazakh Minister of Oil and Gas Sauat Mynbayev said that Kazakhstan's tolling contracts might total 2 million tonnes. He also said that tolling contracts apart from China might be concluded with Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, or Rompetrol.
