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Trend, 25 September 2017

Regular air traffic may be stopped in Kazakhstan due to the termination of aviation kerosene supplies from Russia and the upcoming suspension of the Shymkent oil refinery’s activity, Kazinform news agency reported citing Air Astana airline and flag carrier of the Republic of Kazakhstan as saying.

According to Air Astana, regular air traffic may be stopped despite the State Program for Accelerated Industrial and Innovative Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2010-2016 developed upon the president’s decree dated May 15, 2009.

One of the priority areas of the program was the comprehensive development of the oil refining industry. The ultimate goal was to provide the domestic market with domestic aviation kerosene, gasoline and diesel fuel in 2016.

However, the situation with aviation kerosene supply exacerbated in 2017, Air Astana said in a message.

According to Air Astana, among the companies mainly exporting aviation kerosene in Kazakhstan are PJSC Gazprom Neft, PJSC Rosneft, PJSC Lukoil and PJSC Tatneft.

The aggregate average monthly volume exported by those companies in 2017 decreased to 15,000 tons compared to 44,000 tons in 2016. Moreover, for October those companies have not confirmed the supplies due to high demand in the Russian market.

In particular, PJSC Gazprom Neft notified about the resumption of aviation kerosene export not earlier than May 2018.

Meanwhile, in 2017, the Kazakh civil aviation’s needs 800,000 tons of aviation kerosene, of which 241,000 tons are produced by the Shymkent Oil Refinery, which is the only stable producer of aviation kerosene in Kazakhstan.

However, this plant’s activity will be stopped for maintenance in autumn 2017. As a result, the situation is more exacerbated.