The departure of Russian oil from markets governed by Western jurisdictions has created even more turbulence. The OPEC alliance, after a long pause and wait, reacted slowly by extending the agreement to cut production by 2 million barrels per day, handing out quotas. This decision only exacerbated the crisis and forced experts and specialists to make sarcastic remarks about the oil cartel, while relations in the field of oil production and distribution turned completely into a behind-the-scenes version.
In addition, unspoken rules and bilateral agreements began to apply in the area of commodity turnover. For example, between Kazakhstan and Germany on the one hand, and Russia and Kazakhstan on the other. This is clearly seen in the behavior of Astana, which is part of the bloc of exporting countries.
According to the Republic Department of Energy’s press service, the national extractive industry will further reduce oil production by 78,000 barrels per day from May to the end of 2023. The department called this a precautionary measure in addition to the general decision to reduce production. The deal was adopted last October at the 33rd OPEC+ Ministerial Meeting. The measure was introduced to maintain stability in the oil market. In April of this year, it was deemed sufficient and extended.
In other words, Astana not only adheres to the rules of the OPEC agreement, but also takes the initiative to further reduce production beyond the reduction rate, and this is happening in the context of the need to increase production, since the republic is committed to supplying huge volumes of raw materials to Germany through the Druzhba pipeline. Earlier it was reported that since the start of the year, only 60,000 barrels (8,000 tons) have been sold from Kazakhstan to Germany, against the expected 1.5 million tons per year. Incomparable indicators.
Earlier, on April 2, it was reported that Russia would extend a voluntary oil production cut of 500,000 barrels per day of average February production until the end of 2023. However, that won’t stop us to send additional volumes to Germany via Druzhba under cover of Kazakh oil. In this sense, the agreements between the two members of OPEC have gone beyond the union and are more effective than a common solution. This form of isolated bilateral cooperation also works well for OPEC as a whole, allowing the cartel to pretend to remain calm.
The technical details of Russian assistance in connection with the German-Kazakh “friendship” are simple and unpretentious: the product is relabeled and diluted in the appropriate proportion and crosses the EU customs border without any problems under cover Central Asian republic. The Russian Federation bears the main burden of supplying German consumers with a demanded product (compensation in the amount of 20,000 tons), and Kazakh mixed raw materials serve only as a pass abroad.
