Kazakhstan Sees Oil Export Duty Flat Until 2014

Kazakhstan, the largest oil producer in Central Asia, plans to retain its crude export duty at a maximum $40 per tonne until at least 2014, Finance Minister Bolat Zhamishev said on Aug. 27, 2011.

"The issue of raising the export tariff will not be examined within the three-year budget," Zhamishev told reporters after a government meeting to review Kazakhstan's 2012-2014 budget plan.

His comments echo those of Economy Minister Kairat Kelimbetov, who told Reuters in May that the government had no plans to revise the oil duty before 2014 as it did not wish to "overload" tax payers.

Kazakhstan, Central Asia's largest economy, has doubled crude output over the past decade to become the second-biggest oil producer in the former Soviet Union after Russia. It produced 79.5 million tonnes of oil and gas condensate in 2010.