Argus Kazakhstan and Central Asia Oil and Gas Markets 2023

The fifth "Argus Kazakhstan and Central Asia Oil and Gas 2023" conference was held on 22-23 June in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The conference brought together more than 400 participants, representing 250 companies and 25 countries.

The event was supported by such companies as Petrolic, Crait, Olympic Petroleum, Alcagesta, PTC, Texol, SGS, Intertrans, Yama Petrol DMCC, Bashir Navid Petroleum, Midas Oil Trading, Intertek, Semurg Invest, CIM Banque and EnergoTrade.

The conference began with a session focusing on Kazakhstan’s oil industry. The first speaker was Argus Vice-President for Consulting in the FSU, Sergey Agibalov, who reported on the international crude and oil products market in the new environment.

Kazmunaigas Head of the Department of Transportation and Logistics, Marat Ormanov, looked at developments affecting crude exports from Kazakhstan. He discussed the key markets in Europe and central Asia as well as pricing and transportation.

Regulation and price control as well as market liberalisation in Kazakhstan were described by Kuat Asambekov, Deputy Head of the Fuel and Energy Department of the Agency for the Protection and Development of Competition of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The second and third sessions of the conference focused on regional crude and oil products markets.

Rauf Guseynov, Head of Argus Caspian Markets and Argus Caspian Transportation, presented an overview of changes in Kazakh crude exports in 2023. He reviewed current and alternative export destinations, noting that the CPC pipeline system remains a key supply route, and Kazakhstan will be unable to dramatically reduce its reliance on the CPC system in the near future.

Argus Business Development Manager Dmitry Yudakov continued the session with a report on changes in the European medium crude market and the outlook for Kazakh Kebco crude.

An overview of KMG-Aero’s projects was presented by Madina Kozhakhmetova, the company's Business Development Department Manager.

Evgeny Pushchik, a representative of BioOperations, delivered a presentation on biofuels and their prospects in Kazakhstan at the end of the session.

The next session was dedicated to regional markets covering Russian fuel shipments to central Asia, transshipment capabilities, consumption patterns in Afghanistan, and the development of the crude and oil product markets in Uzbekistan. The participants heard reports by Crait, Black Sea Terminal (SOCAR Kulevi Terminal), Yama Petrol, and the Association of Oil Traders of Uzbekistan.

At the end of the first day, the conference held a discussion around the current supply routes for crude and oil products in the region, with the participation of the Aktau Commercial Sea Port and Semurg Invest.

The first day concluded with the participants being able to relax and continue their discussions in an informal atmosphere as part of an open-air cocktail reception at one of the best restaurants in Almaty.

On the second day of the conference, the Kazakh LPG market and the development of petrochemical projects in central Asia were discussed. Argus market experts as well as representatives of SOCAR Trading SA, Alpha Oil, ORIYO Tijorat, TEXOL Group, KMG PetroChem and KPI presented their reports.

We thank all participants of the conference and look forward to seeing you again next year!