In St. Petersburg, nearly half of the gas stations have run out of gasoline due to the fuel crisis in Russia
The fuel crisis in Russia has shifted geographically over the past two and a half weeks. While the most serious problems were observed in certain regions at the end of August, as of September 10, the situation had deteriorated sharply in St. Petersburg, Chelyabinsk, Krasnoyarsk, and Kazan.
The most noticeable deterioration was recorded in St. Petersburg.
On August 23, 4.5% of gas stations—based on data from the “DeBENZ” service—were out of gasoline. By September 10, that figure had risen to 42.9%.
In terms of the proportion of gas stations without fuel, St. Petersburg is second only to Chelyabinsk, where 45.5% of gas stations with known status are out of gasoline.
Problems have also worsened in other major cities:
- in Krasnoyarsk, the proportion of gas stations without gasoline rose from 4.5% to 17.2%;
- in Kazan—from 6.4% to 14.8%;
- in Nizhny Novgorod—from 22.3% to 30.5%;
- in Chelyabinsk, the figure rose to 38.8%.
Local media also reported on shortages and long lines.
In particular, on September 9, “Fontanka” checked ten gas stations in St. Petersburg. Some of them had no gasoline at all, while lines at other stations stretched out onto the road. Journalists were only able to fill up at one station after waiting in line for 12 minutes.
In Nizhny Novgorod on the same day, local media also reported complaints from motorists.
Russian officials also began to address the difficult situation.
In the Leningrad Region, local authorities officially acknowledged problems with fuel availability. This is now the seventh region where authorities have confirmed gasoline shortages in September.
Specifically:
On September 9, Mikhail Yevraev, governor of the Yaroslavl Region, spoke of a “difficult situation” in Yaroslavl and Rybinsk: “The situation has worsened over the past two days.”
On the same day, Astrakhan Region Governor Igor Babushkin announced that the region would maintain the “odd-even” system.
On September 8, Vladimir Vladimirov, governor of the Stavropol Krai, spoke about long lines at gas stations.
That same day, Denis Pasler, head of the Sverdlovsk Region, stated that he had personally stood in line for gas twice.
Also on September 8, the governor of the Oryol Region announced that the region would not lift restrictions on gasoline sales, as it was “building up reserves for the future.”
On September 7, Arkhangelsk Oblast Governor Alexander Tsybulsky described the fuel situation in the region as tense.
In addition, since early September, Veniamin Kondratyev, governor of the Krasnodar Krai, and Dmitry Milyaev, head of the Tula Oblast, have reported problems with gasoline.
At the same time, the situation has improved in a number of large cities that were particularly hard hit by fuel shortages in late August.
According to “DeBENZ,” the percentage of gas stations without gasoline has decreased:
- in Rostov-on-Don—from 48.5% to 23.1%;
- in Samara – from 40.4% to 9.4%;
- in Novosibirsk—from 33.9% to 7.5%;
- in Moscow and the immediate Moscow suburbs—from 31.9% to 10.1%;
- in Krasnodar—from 39.2% to 23.3%;
- in Ufa—from 19.5% to 13.6%.
Thus, the crisis is not going away but is shifting between regions, creating varying levels of shortages in different parts of Russia.
Problems with the availability of petroleum products are linked to disruptions at Russian oil refineries amid Ukrainian strikes on refineries.
In August, the Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked Russian oil refineries more than 20 times.
In September, at least five refineries were attacked: the NOVATEK – Ust-Luga” oil refinery complex on September 1, Rosneft’s Ryazan refinery on September 6, LUKOIL’s Perm refinery on September 7, the refinery in Nizhnekamsk on September 7, and Rosneft’s “Saratov Refinery” "Rosneft."
It was also reported that the Ryazan refinery suspended operations, and resuming them could take several weeks.
After an increase in exchange-traded gasoline sales in early September, volumes fell again by 11% on September 7 due to unscheduled maintenance at oil refineries.
According to market participants cited by Russian media, the gasoline shortage persists, and the drop in petroleum product production over the summer was too significant to be quickly offset.
As a result, the fuel crisis in Russia is having an increasingly severe impact on gas station operations, and the gasoline shortage continues to spread to new major cities.
This is evidenced by an analysis of data from the “DeBENZ” service.
Russian dictator Vova Putin dismissed the country’s fuel crisis as “inconveniences” and shifted the blame onto the government.
The fuel crisis in Russia has worsened following a new series of Ukrainian strikes on oil refineries. In the first half of August, at least nine facilities in the industry—with a combined capacity of 145 million metric tons per year—were attacked, and at least four were destroyed. Refining volumes are now one-third below the seasonal norm, according to Rystad estimates.
