Russia Asks Kazakhstan for Help with Gasoline – Reuters
The Russian Federation has begun negotiations with Kazakhstan regarding the supply of approximately fifty thousand metric tons of AI-92 automotive gasoline to address the fuel shortage in its domestic market.
The main cause of the fuel crisis in Russia was the forced shutdown of several large oil refineries in the country’s central regions due to successful attacks by Ukrainian drones, which has already led to a drop in gasoline production in Russia by approximately 25% compared to last year’s figures.
In particular, on June 12, following yet another strike, the Russian refinery “Taneco,” owned by “Tatneft,” completely halted oil refining. This directly affects logistics, as it was “Taneco” that supplied raw materials to the Kazakhstani “Kondensat” refinery, which is now considered one of the potential exporters of fuel to Russia.
Sources note that Astana currently has a certain surplus of gasoline, but the volume of potential shipments to Russia will be limited. This is due to scheduled maintenance at the Atyrau refinery, which will take place from June 26 to July 20 and will significantly reduce Kazakhstan’s domestic reserves. One option under discussion is a barter arrangement: supplying Kazakhstani gasoline in exchange for Russian jet fuel, which is expected to be in short supply in Kazakhstan in July due to a seasonal increase in air travel. At the same time, Kazakhstan’s Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov currently asserts that Astana has not yet received any official written requests for fuel supplies from the Russian government.
This was reported by the Reuters news agency.
As a reminder, the fuel crisis in Russia is intensifying: gasoline is running out at gas stations and lines are growing.
Russia has allowed the use of lower-quality gasoline due to the fuel crisis.
Russian authorities are preparing to launch large-scale gasoline imports from India to compensate for the fuel shortage in the domestic market. This is evidenced by a draft amendment to the Tax Code aimed at stabilizing the fuel sector.
