Russia considers blocking fuel exports
Russia is once again raising the possibility of banning all exports of petroleum products in order to stabilize fuel price volatility in the country, Russian news agency TASS said on Friday.
Alternatively, Russia could raise tariffs on petroleum product exports to $250 per ton. This duty will be refunded for those companies that reach the quota of supplying fuel to the Russian domestic market. For the others this would mean an objective export ban.
A ban on exports of products from Russia, even if temporary, would further squeeze diesel supplies in Europe. Although Europe banned the import of refined products of Russian origin starting in February, it simply changed the types of fuel that were marketable, with Russia increasing its exports of refined products by 50% year-on-year starting in first quarter by increasing shipments to Africa. What now arrives in Europe is simply the fuel that used to go to Africa and which has been replaced by Russian fuel. A banal triangulation that has not changed the quantity of fuel available on the market.
The news comes just as the Astrakhan refining plant, owned by Gazprom, has resumed petrol production after maintenance work. Russian Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov said earlier this week that a number of oil refineries were due to be put back into operation after maintenance work – Astrakhan is just one of them. Ending maintenance work on refineries could go a long way toward easing Russia's domestic fuel crisis and could negate the need for a ban on the country's exports.
Russia is considering a fuel export ban from May in a bid to ward off domestic fuel shortages and rein in prices after announcing a halving of subsidies to oil refineries starting this month to keep more money in the country's coffers. government to finance its military operations. in Ukraine.
Despite the domestic fuel crisis, Russian oil refiners increased crude processing rates in the first half of last month ahead of subsidy cuts. Russia also said it plans to cut diesel exports from Western ports by a quarter this month as seasonal maintenance of refinery plants continues.
This news alarms Western Europe which risks an increase in diesel and petrol prices at a time of high tension, unless other sources of supply are found.
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This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/la-russia-valuta-il-blocco-dellexport-di-carburanti/ on Sun, 17 Sep 2023 10:00:04 +0000.