Russian Fuel Union warned of the risk of gasoline shortage

by time news

The Russian Fuel Union (RTS) believes that the measures taken by the government to stabilize the gasoline market are not enough, there is a risk of a fuel shortage in the summer, said the head of the union Yevgeny Arkusha in a letter to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, TASS reports.

“The coming vacation period will lead to even greater growth in demand, which, according to our estimates, may grow by another 10-20%. The growth in consumption is especially evident for AI-95 gasoline, ”the agency quotes an excerpt from the letter. It also says that failure to take urgent measures to saturate the domestic market with gasoline may lead to a shortage and further growth in wholesale prices or the emergence of a surrogate to replace the missing volumes.

The head of the RTS also added that the union proposes a number of norms that would help stabilize the situation. In particular, to increase the total volume of fuel production in the Russian Federation, to introduce a temporary restriction on the export of gasoline until October 1, and to increase the standard for the minimum volume of fuel sales on the exchange to 15%.

Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin, commenting on the letter from the head of the RTS, said that the Ministry of Energy monitors the situation with prices and the satisfaction of demand in the domestic motor fuel market on a daily basis.

“On average, over the past period of May, the daily production of fuel is about 67 thousand tons / day, for AI-92 gasoline and about 40 thousand tons / day for AI-95 gasoline. The current level fully meets the emerging demand. At the same time, the seasonal growth in demand in exchange trading before the summer start of holidays creates additional exchange demand for AI-92 gasoline and, in particular, AI-95, the demand for which is growing every year, ”he said.

Sorokin stressed that the ministry has already recommended oil companies to increase exchange supplies of gasoline during May-early June this year. After a period of high demand, taking into account payments to refiners on the adjusted “damper mechanism”, the Ministry of Energy expects the stabilization of wholesale prices on the exchange.

Earlier it was reported that the government is preparing to limit the export of gasoline abroad. The measure was caused by the accelerated rise in fuel prices on the domestic market. Since the beginning of the year, gasoline has risen in price by 4%, close to the forecasted inflation rate of 4.3%. The draft government decree, which gives the right to stop export deliveries for three months, may be adopted in the near future.

.

You may also like

Leave a Comment