Baku, Azerbaijan, June 25

Trend:

Kyrgyzstan's Ministry of Economy has proposed to impose a ban on the export of crude oil, Kyrgyz media reports.

The ministry said that in recent years oil export to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan has steadily increased. The needs of Kyrgyzstan in oil products are covered by imports from Russia.

There are four oil refineries in Kyrgyzstan. Reserves of crude oil are insignificant. The demand is 1.5 million tons of oil, and the annual production is about 130,000 tons.

Oil refineries operate at 50-70 percent of their capacity due to the shortage of crude oil. In 2016-2017, 13,361 tons of oil were exported to Tajikistan and 13,800 tons were exported to Uzbekistan, according to Kyrgyz State Customs Service.

In order to protect the domestic market and support domestic refineries, the Kyrgyz Ministry of Economy has proposed to prohibit the export of crude oil for six months (June-November 2018).

The ministry has proposed to introduce a similar ban for the entire territory of the Eurasian Economic Union.