The demand for aviation fuel in Kazakhstan is approximately 1 million tons per year, while the production is only around 650,000 tons. The shortfall is imported, said Talgat Lastayev, the Deputy Minister of Transport of Kazakhstan, on the sidelines of the ICAO symposium in Almaty, according to the business publication LS.
If fuel is provided to all aircraft passing through Kazakhstan, the demand could increase to 1.5 million tons per year, according to Lastayev.
The high-ranking official noted that the transition of Kazakh airports from the TS-1 (CIS) aviation fuel standard to JET A-1 would contribute to the import of aviation fuel from China and Western countries.
"In the future, if the ground infrastructure of Kazakh airports is switched to the new JET A-1 standard, airfields will no longer be able to accept TS-1 aviation fuel," emphasized Lastayev.
Earlier, the "LogiStan" telegram channel reported that the airport in the former capital of Kazakhstan plans to fully transition to JET A-1 aviation fuel in the summer of 2024.
It is worth noting that Kazakhstan currently purchases 300,000 tons of aviation kerosene from Russian companies. To address the shortage of aviation fuel, in the summer of 2023, "KazMunayGas" promised to triple the production of this type of fuel from the current 313,000 tons to 1 million tons per year, but only in seven years. Until 2030, aviation fuel will have to be imported.
CentralasianLIGHT.org,
December 6, 2023