Russia is seeing Ai 92 and Ai 95 fuel shortages in some regions after Ukrainian drone attacks triggered supply chain shortages and prices increased.
The problem is acutely felt among Russian private filing stations since they do not belong to “vertically integrated oil firms.” The share of independent filling stations in Russia is around 40% by volume, Reuters wrote.
Ukraine’s drone attacks have reduced oil refinery production, but private filing stations cannot afford to stockpile fuel due to high borrowing costs – Russia’s key rate is 17%, Reuters reported.
In August, Russia’s Far East and Crimea first experienced shortages of gasoline. Five traders and retailers in the Russian fuel market told Reuters that the Volga river region, as well as southern and central Russia, experienced similar issues. Some gasoline stations had to be temporarily closed due to being unable to sell fuel.
Local Russian authorities claim that “disruptions at the pumping stations are linked to chains of supplies in the wider region”.
“Everything should return to normal in the coming days,” Reuters quoted Gleb Nikitin, governor of Volga’s Nizhni Novgorod region, as saying.
However, the St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange (the “Petersburg Exchange”) has tightened its diesel and petrol fuel trading rules to mitigate the effects of rising prices, Russian Interfax wrote.
The new trading rules that tighten the prices for diesel took effect on Sept. 23.
The allowed price changes for diesel fuel (delivered at the railway station of departure or through the pipeline) are between 0.01% above and 20% below the current market price for the traded contract.
Since Sept. 8, the exchange has introduced similar restrictions on gasoline trading.
Russia’s central bank allowed Petersburg Exchange to make changes to the trading design to prevent high price volatility.
Diesel fuel prices on the Petersburg Exchange have been rising for several weeks now. Last week, they rose by more than 7%, surpassing 70,000 rubles ($840) per ton. However, the all-time high was 75,036 rubles ($900) per ton, set in September 2023, according to Interfax data.
Ukraine’s military, intelligence and special operations agencies have taken formal credit for attacks against 12 major Russian refineries since Kyiv’s bombardment campaign against Russia’s energy and gas production began in late July. Damage caused by explosions and fires has cut Russian Federation oil processing capacity by between 17 and 25 percent, industry analysts say.
A Kyiv Post estimate based on local sources put Ukraine’s long-range drone strike total against Russian energy industry targets, as of Friday, at a minimum 21 attacks on Russian oil refineries since Aug. 1, with some facilities having been hit twice or even three times. According to that data, Ukrainian drones damaged other energy industry infrastructure, such as oil pumping stations, chemical plants and oil tanker terminals, at least seven times.