LPG shortage in Kazakhstan to be overcome in a few days - ministry

The problem of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) supplies to the filling stations of Kazakhstan will be resolved very soon; about 1,200 tonnes of LPG will be provided by November 11, said Bakhytzhan Taubayev, head of the Energy Ministry's Gas Industry Department, Azernews reports, citing Interfax.

"Astana's demand is 8,700 tonnes a month. Pavlodar Petrochemical Plant LLP [the Pavlodar refinery] and CNPC-Aktobemunaigas JSC have provided 8,512 tonnes from their resources, of which 396 tonnes from CNCP's resources was delivered on November 7 and 216 tonnes will be delivered by Pavlodar Petrochemical Plant on November 8," Taubayev said on Tuesday.

In addition, CNPC's plant will ship approximately 1,200 tonnes of LPG on November 7-8 to arrive in Astana before November 11.

Except Astana, an LPG shortage has been reported in the Zhambyl and North Kazakhstan regions.

"The Zhambyl region will receive 5,218 tonnes from the Shymkent refinery, of which 1,250 tonnes was shipped on November 7. Also, CNPC will supply 5,706 tonnes to the North Kazakhstan, of which 1,477 tonnes has already been shipped," Taubayev said.

A total of 133.867 tonnes of LPG will be supplied to the domestic market in November. "The situation will be stabilized in the following few days," he said.

The Astana administration announced earlier the implementation of a rationing system for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for vehicle owners due to a significant shortage of LPG in the capital.

"The deficit of LPG in Astana has been caused by a combination of the scheduled maintenance in October at the Atyrau refinery and the capacity constraints at the Pavlodar Petrochemical Plant and CNPC-Aktobemunaigas JSC," the city administration said.

KazMunayGas said on Tuesday that the Atyrau refinery had reached its design throughput capacity after the completion of a scheduled maintenance program that was launched October 1 and completed November 3.

Atyrau Refinery is one of the three largest oil refineries in Kazakhstan. Atyrau Refinery is owned by National Company KazMunayGas. The design capacity of the refinery is 5.5 million tonnes a year with product yield of up to 86.4%.

There are three refineries in Kazakhstan: Atyrau (west Kazakhstan), Shymkent (south Kazakhstan) and Pavlodar (north Kazakhstan). They all are controlled by National Company KazMunayGas.

National Company KazMunayGas JSC is the national operator for exploration, production, processing and transportation of hydrocarbons. The company represents the state interests in the oil and gas sector of Kazakhstan.