Russia’s fuel export ban led to an 80% fall in railway exports of gasoline in the first 15 days of October from the same period in September to some 37,000 tonnes, data provided by two market sources and Reuters calculations showed.
MOSCOW: Russia’s fuel export ban led to an 80% fall in railway exports of gasoline in the first 15 days of October from the same period in September to some 37,000 tonnes, data provided by two market sources and Reuters calculations showed.
Russia temporarily banned exports of gasoline and ultra-low sulphur diesel (ULSD) from Sept. 21 to cope with a domestic market shortage.
The restrictions, which were eased in part last week, made an exception for fuel supplied under inter-governmental agreements, including with members of the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union.
In the first 15 days of October, Russian refineries sent by rail to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan some 10,000 and 4,900 tonnes of gasoline respectively. Both countries have inter-governmental fuel supply agreements with Moscow.
Mongolia was also exempt from the ban and Russian gasoline exports to the country were around 6,800 tonnes.
Russian refineries diverted gasoline to the domestic market following the fuel export ban, although some still have ongoing maintenance, the market sources said on condition of anonymity. They said most of the gasoline exported in October via the Russian ports Ust-Luga, St. Petersburg and Murmansk originated from Belarus’ refineries. Belarus supplied to Russian ports by rail about 120,000 tonnes of gasoline in the first 15 days of October compared to some 246,000 tonnes in September, the data provided by the market sources showed.
In 2021, Belarus and Russia signed transportation and transit
transhipment agreement for exports of petroleum products from Belarus oil plants via Russian ports.
Source: Infra Economic Times
