Russia introduced temporary restrictions on fuel exports, both gasoline and dieselin order to stabilize the internal market, the government reported.
He did not specify how the restrictions will work. The Energy Ministry said separately that they would prevent unauthorized “grey” fuel exports.
“Temporary restrictions will help saturate the fuel market, which in turn will reduce prices for consumers”the government declared in a statement.
Government officials have said the plans aim to restrict fuel exports only to those who produce petroleum products, in order to avoid a large-scale fuel crisis; The possibility of imposing a prohibitive duty on fuel exports has been considered.
In recent months, Russia has suffered from gasoline and diesel shortages. Wholesale prices have skyrocketed, although retail prices are capped to try to keep them in line with official inflation.
The shortages have been especially painful in some breadbasket areas of southern Russia, where fuel is crucial to harvesting the harvest. A serious crisis could be uncomfortable for the Kremlin on the eve of the presidential elections in March.
Traders say the fuel market has been affected by factors such as maintenance at oil refineries, bottlenecks on railways and the weakness of the ruble, which encourages fuel exports.
Russia has already reduced its maritime exports of diesel and gasoil by almost 30%, to about 1.7 million metric tons, in the first 20 days of September, compared to the same period in August, according to operators and data from LSEG.
The Government statement added: “Previously, to stabilize the situation in the fuel market, the Government increased the volumes of mandatory supply of motor gasoline and diesel to the raw materials exchange.
“Daily control of fuel purchases has also been established for the needs of agricultural producers with rapid adjustment of volumes.”
Last year, Russia exported 4.817 million tons of gasoline and almost 35 million tons of diesel.
Source: Ambito
