Kazakh Oct-Nov sulphur railings down on maintenance

: Fertilizers
24/12/04

Scheduled maintenance at Kazakhstan's Kashagan and TCO processing plants reduced sulphur railings to seaports over October and November, Russian rail data show.

Product delivered to seaports via Russian rail from Kashagan dropped by 110,000t from the previous month to just 85,000t in October while maintenance constrained Kashagan output. Railed volumes recovered to a more usual monthly volume of 183,000t in November.

The TengizChevroil oil field then went on maintenance for much of November, lowering November railed quantities by 54,000t from October to just 137,000t. Product flows are expected to recover to usual monthly levels in December.

Overall Kazakh sulphur railings to seaports for onward export have now reached 4.17mn t for the first 11 months of the year. This is up by 5pc on 3.98mn t moved in the same period last year.

Meanwhile a further 673,000t of Russian producer Gazprom's sulphur moved to the Baltic port of Ust Luga for export shipment in the same period — down from 750,000t last year.

No product barging has taken place in October or November down the Volga-Don transit route for the Black Sea region.

By Maria Mosquera

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