Ukraine refinery strikes trigger fuel rationing and long petrol queues in Russia
Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries have triggered fuel rationing and long queues at petrol pumps across Russia. The disruptions are exposing wartime pressure on daily life and could last through the summer.
Russia is facing growing fuel shortages and long queues at petrol stations after months of Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries and other energy sites disrupted supplies across the country. Fuel rationing has been introduced in many regions, with motorists reporting empty pumps, rising prices and waits stretching for hours, an unusual crisis for one of the world’s biggest energy producers.
The shortages have spread from the capital to distant Siberian regions and have brought the war home to ordinary Russians in a way few events have done in its fifth year. President Vladimir Putin has acknowledged the problem, while analysts say damage to refineries and the challenge of moving fuel to where it is needed mean the disruption could last through the summer.
Putin said "problems persist for both motorists and businesses," and that "there are still queues at petrol stations, and finding the right grade of petrol isn't always easy." He insisted the shortages are "not critical" and "temporary." But in Moscow, a motorist waiting in line told AP on Monday, a day after Putin’s televised remarks, "I think the situation is not very good." He added, "They say one thing on television, and in reality it's another. ... People are queueing everywhere," declining to identify himself out of concern for his safety.
An AP count showed more than 50 reported Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries, depots, terminals and other oil infrastructure in Russia and the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula since late March. Some facilities were hit repeatedly, including the refinery in the Black Sea town of Tuapse, which was struck four times in just over two weeks. Gary Peach, an oil markets analyst at Energy Intelligence, said Russia processed 3.95 million barrels of crude a day into fuel in June, down 25 per cent from a year earlier and the lowest level in more than two decades. Gasoline production fell 17 per cent to 850,000 barrels a day from 1.03 million a year earlier. "The outages are extraordinary," Peach said.
Chris Weafer, chief executive of Macro-Advisory Ltd. Consultancy, said about a third of Russia’s refining capacity is offline, based on anecdotal evidence and oil industry sources because refineries do not publicly confirm the extent of the damage. He said the disruption comes at a critical time as the agriculture and harvest season increases demand. Ukrainian officials have described the strikes as part of a campaign to pressure Moscow to end the war by hurting military logistics and supply lines and weakening its ability to launch assaults along the front. Kyiv has also tried to isolate Crimea, seized from Ukraine in 2014 in a move most countries do not recognise. Earlier attacks led Moscow-backed authorities there to impose fuel rationing in May and later halt civilian sales altogether, before limited sales resumed in Sevastopol.
Ukraine has also carried out major drone strikes on Moscow and St Petersburg, creating images of black smoke that circulated widely online despite restrictions on publication. A June 3 attack on an oil terminal in St Petersburg darkened the sky as Putin was preparing to host his annual economic forum. On June 18, a similar cloud rose from the Moscow Oil Refinery on the edge of the capital, with greasy black droplets falling from the air. By late June, some form of fuel rationing had been reported in more than half of Russia’s regions. In some places, strict limits were imposed on all petrol stations, while in others individual chains limited sales. Officials blamed hoarding and panic-buying and urged motorists to fill their tanks only when necessary. Russia has restricted exports of gasoline and aviation fuel, considered banning diesel exports too, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said contacts with some countries on fuel imports were "underway" as "another step toward stabilising the market and aimed at reducing panic-buying."
The shortages have also hit regions far from any direct Ukrainian strike. In the Omsk region, businessman Viktor Shkurenko said a limit of 40 litres per vehicle was "unexpected." He said, "Nothing was bombed here. We have the biggest oil refinery in Siberia right here, and it gave us confidence that this fuel crisis won't come to us," while expressing concern about the impact on his businesses. He said that as of Saturday his company had not faced problems refuelling its vehicles. In Zabayakalye, east of Lake Baikal, media reports said a garbage hauler had suspended collections and some bus services had been cut. In Irkutsk, the mayor ordered portable toilets to be placed outside petrol stations, and the city raised public transport fares from Wednesday, citing higher fuel costs. Pavel Kharitonenko, acting head of the Irkutsk branch of the opposition Yabloko party, said he now found it easier to walk or use public transport. "I don't have the fuel, and I don't want to queue at gas stations," he said, adding that the Irkutsk region, home to a Rosneft refinery, had seen acute shortages for several days.
Putin said Russia’s stockpiles of gasoline were only 4 per cent lower than a year ago. Weafer said there were "good supplies of fuel around the country" but "the problem is it's in the wrong place." He said fuel would need to be moved to regions facing shortages and that, in a country as large as Russia, "it's not something that can be done overnight." He added, "There should be enough, but it will take several weeks to get it from where it is to where it's needed. It's just a huge logistics operation to do that."
Repairing damaged refineries is also taking time because the attacks have hit specialised equipment often sourced from abroad, making workarounds and replacements expensive and slow as sanctions are evaded. Peach said, "They manage to get these things up and running, not necessarily at full capacity," but added, "the extent of the damage this time is so extensive that they won't get back to winter levels of refining this summer." He said some refineries would not be worth repairing until there was a ceasefire or armistice because they would just "get knocked down again." Weafer said repairs to the Moscow Oil Refinery, which supplied 40 per cent of the fuel used in the capital and surrounding region, were expected to take at least three months. If there is no further damage to Russia’s oil infrastructure, he said, the shortages will probably last throughout the summer as demand from agriculture is likely to stay high into September.
The fuel shortage has exposed the impact of repeated Ukrainian strikes on Russia’s energy system, leaving motorists from Moscow to Siberia dealing with rationing, long queues and uncertainty even as the Kremlin says the disruption is temporary.
With PTI Inputs
Russia is facing growing fuel shortages and long queues at petrol stations after months of Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries and other energy sites disrupted supplies across the country. Fuel rationing has been introduced in many regions, with motorists reporting empty pumps, rising prices and waits stretching for hours, an unusual crisis for one of the world’s biggest energy producers.
The shortages have spread from the capital to distant Siberian regions and have brought the war home to ordinary Russians in a way few events have done in its fifth year. President Vladimir Putin has acknowledged the problem, while analysts say damage to refineries and the challenge of moving fuel to where it is needed mean the disruption could last through the summer.
Putin said "problems persist for both motorists and businesses," and that "there are still queues at petrol stations, and finding the right grade of petrol isn't always easy." He insisted the shortages are "not critical" and "temporary." But in Moscow, a motorist waiting in line told AP on Monday, a day after Putin’s televised remarks, "I think the situation is not very good." He added, "They say one thing on television, and in reality it's another. ... People are queueing everywhere," declining to identify himself out of concern for his safety.
An AP count showed more than 50 reported Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries, depots, terminals and other oil infrastructure in Russia and the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula since late March. Some facilities were hit repeatedly, including the refinery in the Black Sea town of Tuapse, which was struck four times in just over two weeks. Gary Peach, an oil markets analyst at Energy Intelligence, said Russia processed 3.95 million barrels of crude a day into fuel in June, down 25 per cent from a year earlier and the lowest level in more than two decades. Gasoline production fell 17 per cent to 850,000 barrels a day from 1.03 million a year earlier. "The outages are extraordinary," Peach said.
Chris Weafer, chief executive of Macro-Advisory Ltd. Consultancy, said about a third of Russia’s refining capacity is offline, based on anecdotal evidence and oil industry sources because refineries do not publicly confirm the extent of the damage. He said the disruption comes at a critical time as the agriculture and harvest season increases demand. Ukrainian officials have described the strikes as part of a campaign to pressure Moscow to end the war by hurting military logistics and supply lines and weakening its ability to launch assaults along the front. Kyiv has also tried to isolate Crimea, seized from Ukraine in 2014 in a move most countries do not recognise. Earlier attacks led Moscow-backed authorities there to impose fuel rationing in May and later halt civilian sales altogether, before limited sales resumed in Sevastopol.
Ukraine has also carried out major drone strikes on Moscow and St Petersburg, creating images of black smoke that circulated widely online despite restrictions on publication. A June 3 attack on an oil terminal in St Petersburg darkened the sky as Putin was preparing to host his annual economic forum. On June 18, a similar cloud rose from the Moscow Oil Refinery on the edge of the capital, with greasy black droplets falling from the air. By late June, some form of fuel rationing had been reported in more than half of Russia’s regions. In some places, strict limits were imposed on all petrol stations, while in others individual chains limited sales. Officials blamed hoarding and panic-buying and urged motorists to fill their tanks only when necessary. Russia has restricted exports of gasoline and aviation fuel, considered banning diesel exports too, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said contacts with some countries on fuel imports were "underway" as "another step toward stabilising the market and aimed at reducing panic-buying."
The shortages have also hit regions far from any direct Ukrainian strike. In the Omsk region, businessman Viktor Shkurenko said a limit of 40 litres per vehicle was "unexpected." He said, "Nothing was bombed here. We have the biggest oil refinery in Siberia right here, and it gave us confidence that this fuel crisis won't come to us," while expressing concern about the impact on his businesses. He said that as of Saturday his company had not faced problems refuelling its vehicles. In Zabayakalye, east of Lake Baikal, media reports said a garbage hauler had suspended collections and some bus services had been cut. In Irkutsk, the mayor ordered portable toilets to be placed outside petrol stations, and the city raised public transport fares from Wednesday, citing higher fuel costs. Pavel Kharitonenko, acting head of the Irkutsk branch of the opposition Yabloko party, said he now found it easier to walk or use public transport. "I don't have the fuel, and I don't want to queue at gas stations," he said, adding that the Irkutsk region, home to a Rosneft refinery, had seen acute shortages for several days.
Putin said Russia’s stockpiles of gasoline were only 4 per cent lower than a year ago. Weafer said there were "good supplies of fuel around the country" but "the problem is it's in the wrong place." He said fuel would need to be moved to regions facing shortages and that, in a country as large as Russia, "it's not something that can be done overnight." He added, "There should be enough, but it will take several weeks to get it from where it is to where it's needed. It's just a huge logistics operation to do that."
Repairing damaged refineries is also taking time because the attacks have hit specialised equipment often sourced from abroad, making workarounds and replacements expensive and slow as sanctions are evaded. Peach said, "They manage to get these things up and running, not necessarily at full capacity," but added, "the extent of the damage this time is so extensive that they won't get back to winter levels of refining this summer." He said some refineries would not be worth repairing until there was a ceasefire or armistice because they would just "get knocked down again." Weafer said repairs to the Moscow Oil Refinery, which supplied 40 per cent of the fuel used in the capital and surrounding region, were expected to take at least three months. If there is no further damage to Russia’s oil infrastructure, he said, the shortages will probably last throughout the summer as demand from agriculture is likely to stay high into September.
The fuel shortage has exposed the impact of repeated Ukrainian strikes on Russia’s energy system, leaving motorists from Moscow to Siberia dealing with rationing, long queues and uncertainty even as the Kremlin says the disruption is temporary.
With PTI Inputs
