At a government briefing, the head of the Energy Ministry was asked whether the agency had measured the volumes of Kazakh gasoline that "leaks" into Russia due to their fuel shortage. Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov stated that it is practically impossible to accurately determine the amount of Kazakh gasoline exported to Russia, reports infohub.kz.
"I think it is very difficult, practically impossible, since there is no official fuel export in Kazakhstan. Only last month did we provide some refineries with the ability to export gasoline. As for 'fuel tourism,' the data cannot be verified. A car arrives in Kazakhstan posing as a tourist on vacation, fills up, and drives back to their country. (…) There are some estimates. If we talk about freight transport, about 4,000 vehicles cross our border daily. Therefore, significant volumes are directly consumed in Kazakhstan and then exported in tanks. We have been talking about this for years," said the Minister of Energy Yerlan Akkenzhenov.
The ministry sees no panacea in restricting the export of fuel in tanks. "There are some projects on fuel marking—adding special molecules that will be visible. Such projects are currently being considered," the minister added.