Russia has announced a ban on its gasoline exports for six months

Fearing shortages and rising prices, the Russian government temporarily banned the export of gasoline and diesel, a move “preventive” According to “Fix prices in domestic market for petroleum products”The Deputy Prime Minister, Aleksandar Novak, is clearly in charge of energy.

approved On Thursday 29 February, the ban was imposed for six months, from 1^er From March 1^er September However, Russian exporters, according to the decree, will be able to continue supplying the Eurasian Economic Union (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, etc.), Mongolia, Uzbekistan, as well as the states of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, two Georgian regions that are economically unstable. through Moscow.

Such restrictive measures can be surprising. Russia, the world’s third-largest oil producer, should be protected from potential fuel shortages. The character that the government insists on by putting a brake on exports “Temporary” Due to the ban, prices are expected to hold up as demand increases. Next up, the war in Ukraine, which uses a lot of gasoline and diesel to run tanks, armored vehicles, missile batteries, troop transports and railways loaded with military equipment, has sent prices skyrocketing, from 8% to 23%, according to Russian. sources.

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A new problem has been added to this. As the Russian offensive enters its third year, the Ukrainian military is trying, not without success, to affect the enemy’s refining capacity. Since January, Kiev has increased its drone attacks on the country’s refineries. Six major Russian refineries, which account for 18% of Russia’s total crude oil refining, suffered significant damage after they were recently targeted by drone strikes, according to Bloomberg.

“Repairs will be carried out”

On the night of February 3, an oil refinery of the private company Lukoil in Volgograd, the largest producer of petroleum products in Russia’s Southern Federal District, was damaged by a drone. A subsequent fire destroyed several installations and halted part of the production cycle. On January 29, a similar attack hit the Lukoil refinery in Nizhny Novgorod. Four days ago, it was the turn of the Rosneft oil refinery located in Tuapse, Krasnodar region, on the Black Sea coast. After suffering heavy damage, it is currently under repair. On the night of January 21, the terminal of the Novatek company at the port of Ust-Luga, hit by a drone, caught fire. Finally, on January 19, Rosneft’s Bryansknefteproduct oil depot in Klintsy, Bryansk region, was damaged by fire after a drone attack.

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