There is no way out: Russia will be mired in fuel shortages, – expert

The measures the government is resorting to to stabilize the situation on the domestic fuel market will not work, says an expert on the oil and gas market.

Russian authorities, against the backdrop of significant problems associated with fuel shortages in the country , have limited the export of petroleum products. This was supposed to help ensure that fuel remained on the domestic market, although it hit the federal budget of the aggressor country. However, this method of solving the problem did not work, says oil and gas market expert Mikhail Krutikhin.

“It turned out that oil companies somehow quickly understood all this and began to resort to such a proven method as smuggling. Gray schemes. Some volumes are taken, exported to those countries where exports were allowed, … to Kazakhstan, to Armenia, to Kyrgyzstan. And there is resale going on, somewhere prices are going up. Again there is not enough fuel in Russia. That is, the crisis has developed like this. And there is complete confidence that all the measures that the government is resorting to will not help anything, of course “, says Krutikhin.

Commenting on the new measures proposed by the government to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin for the long-term balancing of the domestic fuel market (in particular, duties on gray exports of petroleum products), Krutikhin expressed confidence that they would not help either.

“No, of course. It won’t [work]. First of all, they are studying and have already learned how to bypass such bans and similar protective duties. Of course, there is no serious accounting as such. Oil companies set the tone here, not the government.. They will be collected, say : “You must show responsibility.” “Okay,” the oil companies will say. And they will do the same thing as in the future,” he stated.

Fuel shortage in Russia – latest news

In August, problems with gasoline shortages worsened in temporarily occupied Crimea. Soon the fuel disappeared in the southern regions of the Russian Federation bordering Ukraine. At the same time, fuel shortages were felt in remote Novosibirsk, Ryazan and Samara regions, and in Kalmykia.

The fuel shortage has hit farmers’ ability to harvest and sow winter crops.

On September 21, Russia suspended almost all exports of diesel fuel and oil to stabilize its domestic markets. British intelligence predicted that both ordinary Russians and residents of neighboring countries who are now dependent on Russian fuel supplies would suffer from fuel shortages.

(C)UNIAN 2023