Kazakhstan seems a bit confounded lately by a lack of control over their own oil. As Ben pointed out, China beat out Russia to control the oil pumping east. But Russia still controls the oil going west.

The Russian-owned oil company Transneft decided to throw its weight around by preventing Kazakhstan from shipping oil to a refinery in Lithuania just when Kazakhstan thought an agreement had been made. This Lithuanian refinery just happens to be owned (53.7% of the shares) by Yukos, the embattled privately-owned Russian oil company that is struggling for its very survival after its CEO, Mikhail Khodorkovsky was thrown into the slammer on trumped up embezzlement and fraud charges in 2003. Coincidence, or consequence?

An indignant Kazakh Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources said:

In our view, Transneft’s position is not in line with open market principles and the agreement between the government of the Russian Federation and the government of Kazakhstan on the transit of oil signed June 7, 2002

When I think Russia, Kazakhstan, and oil, “open market principles” are exactly what I think. Luckily, the president of Transneft was ready with a cunning response:

[Kazakhstan] did not fulfill its obligations in [arranging] the signing of an additional protocol to an intergovernmental agreement between Russia and Kazakhstan

“Additional protocol”? Come on, give the Kazakhs a little more credit. Maybe the president of Transeft has been watching too much of the Lisbon MTV Music Awards to take Kazakhstan seriously.

It would surprise me if Kazakhstan weren’t plotting ways to get larger shares in some of the oil companies that are controlling all the oil running out of their countries. Maybe then they could avoid getting burned by internal politics in Russia and China.