The European Union will have to face a shortage of oil imported from its third biggest non-OPEC supplier, Kazakhstan. The Central Asian country plans to stop oil exports for four months from mid-February.
According to news agency Interfax, the ban will be on gasoline, diesel fuel, and other petroleum products with the exception of lubricants. The order will come in effect 10 calendar days after the decree by the Kazakh State Revenue Committee on February 8. The government decided to pause exports in order to protect domestic energy supply. Kazakhstan had already paused oil exports before, from November 2021 to May 2022.
The EU imports over 70% of Kazakh oil. Despite this, the country does not have a direct pipeline to export it to the bloc. The main route passes via the Novorossiysk pipeline on the Black Sea. The country signed a production-sharing agreement with seven international companies back in 1997, including EU-based companies like Eni, Shell, and TotalEnergies.
The export ban arrives days after the EU starts its own embargo on imports of Russian gas and the price cap on oil products.
