Russia has asked Kazakhstan to be ready to supply it with 100 000 tons of gasoline in case of a shortage that could worsen due to Ukrainian drone attacks and supply disruptions.
This was reported to Reuters by three industry sources.
One of the sources of the agency noted that the agreement on the use of reserves for Russia has already been agreed.
Neighboring Belarus has already agreed to help Russia with the supply of gasoline.
Drone attacks disabled about 14% of Russiaʼs primary oil refining capacity as of the end of March. So far, the authorities of the aggressor country state that the situation on the domestic fuel markets is stable, and the reserves are large enough.
Russia is normally a net exporter of fuel, but refinery outages have forced its oil companies to import.
Moscow also imposed a ban on gasoline exports for six months from March 1 to prevent acute fuel shortages, although it does not extend to the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union, which includes Kazakhstan, as well as some countries such as Mongolia with which it has intergovernmental agreements on fuel supply.
However, according to traders, the ban may be extended if the situation in Russia worsens.
- Since March 2024, Ukraine has intensified drone attacks on Russiaʼs oil industry. More than 10 large oil refineries were attacked, including Lukoil and TANECO. Due to this, a sharp decline in gasoline production began in Russia (output fell by at least 7.4%).
- On March 22, the Financial Times wrote that the US even called on Ukraine to stop attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, as this could raise global oil prices and provoke attacks on Ukrainian energy in response.
- At the beginning of April, Reuters wrote that US sanctions prevent Russia from repairing oil refineries.