30 march
Today, Kazakhstan has an unspoken regulation of prices for oil supplied to the domestic market, informs inbusiness.kz
The main participants in the oil and petroleum products market are two vertically integrated companies. These are CNPC and KazMunayGas, which produce 80% of the oil supplied to the domestic market, own three large refineries and the main retail networks of gas stations. As the first deputy chairman of the Agency for the Protection and Development of Competition of the Republic of Kazakhstan Rustam Akhmetov noted at a briefing in the CCS, there is no competition between them.
“In retail, both companies are guided by the current prices on the market or, in fact, by their established prices. There is an unspoken regulation of prices for oil supplied to the domestic market. The volumes of oil selected for supply to the domestic market are determined without applying any criteria”, – the representative of the agency noted.
In addition, there are two main suppliers of oil in the wholesale market: Petrosun LLP and KazMunayGas NC JSC. And if the latter is a 100% state–owned company, then in Petrosun LLP 50% belongs to CNPC and the other half of the share belongs to a private company.
“Out of 11 million tons of petroleum products, two–thirds of them are sold directly to retail chains, a third to secondary wholesale suppliers, as a rule, who do not have any infrastructure. According to the Kazakhstan Fuel Association, independent gas station networks that are not part of the CNPC group or KazMunayGas get the missing volumes of petroleum products from intermediaries: Helios – 65%, Gazprom Neft-Kazakhstan – 80%, small networks – up to 90%. Thus, there are two intermediary links in the oil products market – oil suppliers (Petrosun and KazMunayGas) and wholesale suppliers, as a rule, affiliated with them and without infrastructure. The last link is superfluous”, – отметил Рустам Ахметов.
At the same time, the marginality of oil suppliers reaches 30%, and affiliated intermediaries – 10-15%. In turn, the practice of crushing a single technological cycle of oil refining has been formed at the refinery. A gas storage park has been implemented at the ANPZ, and an infrastructure for the enrichment of petroleum products and their transportation has been implemented at the Pavlodar NHZ. Their services, taken out of the general technological cycle, increase the cost of petroleum products.
“In the retail market, two main chains – Petro Retail (formerly KazMunayGas), Sinooil own the main market share. Sinooil acquires volumes directly from its affiliated company Petrosun, Petro Retail – from the former owner of this network – KazMunayGas. The remaining networks and small gas stations acquire at least a third of the volume from intermediaries”, – резюмировал Рустам Ахметов.
What is offered. Firstly, the introduction of state regulation of oil prices and the volume of its supplies to the domestic market, which should ensure price stability at the first stages of the development of competition in this market and its demonopolization and transparent pricing in the market. Secondly, the sale of oil on the stock exchange at the first stage in the amount of 5-10% produced by independent companies, and an increase in exchange trading in petroleum products to 30%. The third is the exclusion from the current market structure of an excessive intermediary link in the person of wholesale suppliers.