Kazakhstan boosts crude exports. (News: Caspian).(Industry Overview)

Kazakhstan exported 3.16m t (744,000 b/d) of crude in May, up by 220,300t on April (see table), with export growth driven by higher output.

Of the total, 2.31mn t was shipped by pipeline to Russia. Russian pipeline operator Transneft says it handled 1.82mn t of Kazakh transit crude in May, up by 448,000t on April. But Kazakh exporters are pressing for more pipeline space, citing last year's intergovernmental transit deal between the two countries (FSUE, 7 June 2002, p1).

"We failed to offset the reduction of transit through Russia in the second quarter," says a source at a Kazakh oil firm. He says there was a 200,000t shortfall in second-quarter transit …