Kazakhstan performs tolling oil operations with China a source in the Kazakh Oil and Gas Ministry told Trend news agency.

"Kazakh oil companies started delivering oil to be processed in China under the tolling scheme since 2012," the interlocutor said. "The entire legislation was ratified. Some petrol from China is being sold in Kazakhstan."

Earlier, Kazakhstan adopted a law envisaging tax breaks. According to them, the processing of oil abroad will be taxed under the scheme in the country. The main purpose of this law which makes tolling operations abroad possible is to reduce the dependence of the internal market on the supply of petrol from Russia.

It was assumed that the volume of tolling operations will reach approximately 1.5 million tons of Kazakh oil processing.

The source said that oil is supplied to the two Chinese refineries of Dushanztsi and Xinjiang.

According to the interlocutor, despite the tolling with China being produced in small quantities, the Kazakh market of petroleum products and especially high-octane petrol, depends on the Russian market by 30 per cent.

"Several refineries were closed for repair in Russia," the interlocutor added. "Euro-3 petrol is exported, but there was a shortage in the Russian market and prices on lubricants increased."

The source pointed out that the Agency for Regulation of Natural Monopolies still holds the fuel prices in the domestic market.

Executive secretary for the Agency for Regulation of Natural Monopolies Rustam Akhmetov said that the prices on regulated oil products will not be changed in Kazakhstan in September.

The Kazakh government set a limit of the retail selling price of AI-80/92/93 petrol and diesel fuel across the country since December 2009. This measure was introduced after a sharp rise in the petrol price amid its deficit in the southern regions of Kazakhstan in autumn 2009.

Earlier, senior analyst at the Agency for the Study of Profitability of Investments Artem Ustimenko said that that an increase in prices cannot be avoided on the Kazakh lubricant market for the next six months.

"Despite the quotas on oil product imports imposed this year, Kazakhstan is still dependent on Russia in terms of providing the internal market with certain types of lubricants, including pricing," Ustimenko stressed.

For example, the cost of petrol on average in Russia increased by more than two per cent in July and by 1.4 per cent and 0.6 per cent for the past two weeks.