Kazakh Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov has said that Kazakhstan’s Kondensat oil refinery will begin processing Russian crude oil.

“We received an official request from Russia’s Ministry of Energy. The Kondensat plant will process Russian oil and send 30% of the petroleum products produced from it to Russia,” Akkenzhenov said at a government briefing in Astana, Interfax reports.

The arrangement will allow the Kazakh refinery to process additional crude while supplying part of the resulting fuel output back to Russia.

Kondensat refinery was built near the Karachaganak field to supply diesel and gasoline to Kazakhstan’s West Kazakhstan Region.

In 2017, the refinery increased its annual processing capacity from 650,000 tonnes to 850,000 tonnes.