Kazakhstan supports cautious increase of OPEC+ oil production quotas amid rising economic activity, but its production plans for this year are unchanged so far, energy minister Nurlan Nogayev said June 30.
Nogayev’s comments come a day before OPEC+ is scheduled to meet to determine August production quotas and whether to further raise output volumes on improved global demand.
“We believe in a cautious increase of oil output because we see that global vaccination is paying off and businesses are opening up,” Nogayev said at a press conference.
He said that OPEC+ will meet July 1 to determine all possible options on quotas, as well as when to start easing output.
“We’ll deliberate whether it will be from August or from September-October,” Nogayev said.
The potential return of Iranian barrels to the global market later this year is being discussed within the alliance, he noted, but the decision hasn’t been made yet.
Kazakhstan’s own capacity stands at 90 million mt of oil and condensate, according to the minister, which “can be achieved once OPEC+ gives its approval.”
So far, the country’s output plans for 2021 stand practically flat on the year at 85.3 million mt.
Kazakhstan’s OPEC+ crude production quota will ease to 1.475 million b/d in July, in line with the alliance’s plans to boost total output by about 2.1 million b/d by the end of next month.
Exports to Belarus
In 2021, Kazakhstan also plans to raise refining volumes to 17 million mt and production of oil products to 12.4 million mt, up 7.6% and 7.8% from 2020 levels, respectively.
Exports of oil and oil products to sanction-hit Belarus, which was preliminary agreed on earlier this week, would be considered by the Kazakh parliament not earlier than October-November, the minister said.
“We have to ratify this agreement… types and volumes of petroleum products which can be supplied will also be discussed by the parliament,” Nogayev said.
The minister remained confident that Kazakhstan wouldn’t be at risk of secondary sanctions for exporting oil to Belarus, which is experiencing a significant drop in crude supplies after the US revoked sanctions waivers for some Belarusian state-owned companies.
Source: Platts