Diesel fuel shipments for spring sowing for the southern regions will begin in February. In total, this year it is planned to allocate 800-850 thousand tons for sowing and harvesting. This was announced today at a briefing in the CCS by the Minister of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan Bolat Akchulakov.
“Shipment of diesel fuel for the needs of agricultural producers will be carried out from February: these are mainly the southern regions. The total volume of deliveries for the year is projected at the level of 800-850 thousand tons of diesel fuel: for spring and autumn works,” the head of the Ministry of Energy said.
He also spoke about the formation of stocks of fuel and lubricants in order to prevent fuel shortages during the agricultural season. In general, in the country, as of February 2, the total balances of diesel fuel in the Republic of Kazakhstan amounted to 315 thousand tons, and compared to October 1 last year, they increased by 113.8 thousand tons.
In addition, in the first quarter of this year, it is planned to create a reserve of oil products on the basis of NC "KazMunayGas" in the amount of approximately 150 thousand tons. And also use the storage capacity at the base of "Kazakhstan Temir Zholy" up to 50 thousand tons, mainly for the storage of diesel fuel.
Another step in this direction will be the coordination of a schedule for the overhaul of oil refineries, in which the plants completely stop work for at least 20 days. Therefore, it was decided that only one refinery per year would be spent on repairs.
This year, repairs at the Pavlodar refinery are scheduled for the period from late June to mid-July. And the repair of the Shymkent refinery is still planned for November 2022 with the possibility of transferring it to 2023.
“Based on practice, the accumulation of about 300 thousand tons of diesel fuel gives us the opportunity to get through the period of sowing or harvesting quite well, even if something extraordinary happens to some plant. Therefore, once a year, the repair of one plant, plus the formation of a fuel reserve, allows us to achieve comfort in the uninterrupted supply of fuel and lubricants throughout the country,” Bolat Akchulakov noted.
It should be noted that today the Ministry of Agriculture reported that the regions need for diesel fuel for sowing this year is 400,000 tons. The corresponding calculations were sent to the Ministry of Energy.
For the sowing campaign in agricultural formations there are 141.7 thousand tractors, 4300 high-performance sowing complexes, 73.2 thousand seeders, 221.2 thousand tillage implements.
The total sown area is projected at 22.9 million hectares, which is 13.5 thousand hectares more than last year.