The Agency for the Protection and Development of Competition of the Republic of Kazakhstan said that it is economically and technologically unprofitable for Kazakhstan to invest in the construction of new main pipelines for oil export. This was reported by Kazinform.
The agency underlined that the “all directions are tied to the end consumer – the importer of products. The currently existing pipelines already cover all the main partners of Kazakhstan.”
The current pipelines are not working to the full capacity, the agency notes.
Kazinform reports:
In 2023, the actual load of KazTransOil JSC in the Atyrau-Samara direction was 9.2 million tons/year, with a capacity of 17 million tons/year. (not additional loading – 7.8 million tons/year). In 2023, the actual load of the Kazakhstan-China Pipeline LLP in the Atasu-Alashankou direction was 11.2 million tons/year, with a capacity of 20 million tons/year. (not additional loading – 8.8 million tons/year), experts indicated.
The agency, therefore, is of the opinion that the construction of new pipelines would not be justifiable, as it requires heavy investment and the payback period could be long. /// nCa, 19 August 2024