Gasoline supplies from the Urals and Siberia are being transported to Moscow
Russian authorities have once again launched a campaign to prioritize gasoline supplies to Moscow. Since the middle of last week, lines have reappeared at gas stations in the capital, and drivers are complaining about fuel shortages.
The industry is attempting to offset the gasoline shortage in the Moscow region by redistributing fuel from Russia’s eastern regions. At the same time, gasoline shipments are being sent to the capital even though an increasing number of regions are themselves facing a new wave of the fuel crisis.
According to Reuters estimates, at least ten regions of the Russian Federation have reimposed restrictions on gas station operations. This followed a series of attacks on oil refineries, which knocked out at least four major refineries in August. Fuel shortages have arisen, in particular, in the Orenburg and Lipetsk regions, as well as in the Kaluga region, located near Moscow.
Moscow accounts for about 14% of all passenger cars in Russia and 19% of the total volume of road freight traffic. At the same time, the main refinery supplying the capital with fuel—Gazprom Neft’s Moscow refinery in Kapotnya—was struck twice in June. As a result of the attacks, both oil refining units were damaged.
According to the Financial Times, the facility—which meets about one-third of the capital’s fuel needs—has managed to resume operations, but is currently operating at only one-third of its capacity.
Another refinery near Moscow, the Ryazan Refinery—one of Russia’s three largest in terms of capacity—halted fuel production on July 29. According to Reuters sources, repairs could take two to three weeks.
In July, oil refining volumes in Russia fell to their lowest level in two decades—3.5 million barrels per day. In early August, the figure rose to just over 4 million barrels per day, but it remains about 30% below the seasonal average, according to Rystad analysts.
Russian oil companies will not be able to return to a refining rate of 5.5 million barrels per day by the end of the year, a source in the fuel market said. According to the source’s estimate, refinery utilization rates could fall to new lows in August.
Industry representatives predict that the fuel crisis in Russia could enter a new phase in early September. In Belarus, the Novopolotsk refinery—one of two plants that supplied 212,000 metric tons of gasoline and 162,000 metric tons of diesel fuel to the Russian market in July—is set to shut down for scheduled maintenance.
In addition, several large Russian refineries are scheduled for maintenance, including the TAIF refinery in Tatarstan, which has a capacity of about 8 million metric tons of crude oil per year.
At the same time, a new wave of the fuel crisis is likely to hit the Urals the hardest, according to independent fuel market expert Maxim Khudalov. He says that, in addition to the attacks on refineries themselves, the situation is also being influenced by the priority given to supplying Moscow with fuel.
This is being reported by Russian propaganda media.
Video: Russians are getting into fights at gas stations over gasoline.
In the temporarily occupied Crimea, fuel problems could escalate into a much more serious crisis. Due to logistical difficulties on the peninsula, prices have already begun to rise, lines are forming, and residents are increasingly stocking up on essential goods.
The shortage of automotive fuel, which was previously observed in the temporarily occupied Crimea, has begun to spread to the southern regions of the Russian Federation. Residents of the Krasnodar Krai and Rostov Oblast are reporting shortages of gasoline and diesel fuel.
