Kazakhstan bans aviation fuel imports from Russia - energy ministry

ALMATY. June 14 (Interfax) - Kazakhstan's Energy Ministry has sent a letter to the Kazakhstan Temir Zholy JSC (KTZ) state company to announce a ban on imports of aviation fuel from Russia due to an oversupply of imported aviation fuel, the ministry said in a press release.

"Due to an oversupply of aviation kerosene imported from the Russian Federation for Kazakhstan-based airports, more than 420 tank cars or 25,000 tonnes [of aviation fuel] are sitting on the railway near Almaty and over 100 cars or 6,000 tonnes are outside Astana," the press release says.

The hot weather with an ambient temperature of over 20-30 degrees Celsius poses a fire and explosive hazard on the railway. Furthermore, there is the risk of an overstock of jet fuel and a reduction in the output of Kazakhstan's own refineries as there are no requests for aviation fuel from airlines or airports, the Energy Ministry said.

"On June 8, the ministry sent a letter to KTZ to inform it of the introduction of a conventional ban on the import of aviation fuel from the Russian Federation until the situation normalizes," the ministry said.

The Energy Ministry did not provide information as to when the ban is to come into force nor did it specify its exact duration.