Kazakhstan to charge for Russian oil transit to China
ALMATY. Aug 17 (Interfax) - The tariff to be levied on the transit of Russian oil through the trunk pipeline Atasu-Alashanou in Kazakhstan will be KZT 1,673.89 per tonne per thousand kilometers, the company Kazakhstan-China Pipeline, the operator of the oil pipeline, has told Interfax.
This tariff takes effect September 1 and was set by Kazakhstan's state Agency for the Regulation of Natural Monopolies.
Russian oil companies have not been transporting their oil through this pipeline. Asked when they will start, a company representative said, "They will likely start September 1, with the introduction of the new tariff." However, this source said, not transit contracts have yet been concluded, though there is a letter of intent received from Russia. Also, Kazakhstan's Oil and Gas Ministry has established a 250,000-tonne quota applicable to Russian companies for the pumping of oil to China, a quota that likely will be kept until year-end.
The tariff for pumping Kazakh oil is KZT 3,818 per tonne per thousand km, the source said. The difference in tariffs is due to the agency's methodology, and also "the addition to the project of attractiveness to other product-suppliers," the source said.
Earlier, Russian oil companies said that they were ready to use the Atasu-Alashanou oil pipeline to move oil to China, but that they were encountering problems with getting a place on the export schedule. Russia is prepared to increase oil-pipeline deliveries to China only when the country's ports are operating at top capacity - Kozmino in particular.
Kazakhstan-China Pipeline is a joint venture created for the designing, building, and operating the Atasu-Alashanou oil pipeline. Its equal members are KazTransOil (KazMunayGas's oil-exporting arm) and China National Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Corporation.
The official exchange rate for August 17: KZT 149.22/$1.