19-09-00 Kazakhstan's Ministry of Energy, Industry and Trade said in a report that more than half of all crude oil exported from the country last year had been delivered to countries that serve as offshore tax havens.
Fully 63 % of the 23.7 mm tons of oil exported from Kazakhstan last year went to offshore destinations, the ministry said in its report. It also stated that shipments to offshore customers had generated $ 1.2 mm in revenue, or almost 59 % of total export revenues of $ 2.04 bn in 1999.
Offshore demand for Kazakhstani oil is reportedly still on the rise. Some 3.55 mm tons of crude went to Bermuda in the first six months of 2000, up about 200 % on the figure posted in the same period of 1999. Meanwhile, the Virgin Islands took delivery of $ 441.2 mm worth of Kazakhstani oil in the first half of 2000, up more than 10 times on the $ 356.3 mm in revenues collected in the same period of 1999.
According to the ministry, the increase is the result of the Kazakhstani government's transfer-pricing policy. That policy makes it possible for oil producers (domestic and foreign) to sell crude oil to subsidiaries that are registered in tax havens at a price below the world market level, it said.