Russia’s second fuel crisis this summer: prices climbing, rationing in 59 regions, and now a motor oil shortage

Gasoline prices rose in 40 Russian regions between August 11 and 17, according to Russia’s state statistics agency, Rosstat. The steepest increase, 8.1%, came in Krasnoyarsk Krai. Prices fell in 20 other regions, with the sharpest drop, 3.6%, in Tyva. From the start of the year through July 12, the average price of AI-92 and AI-95 gasoline at Russian gas stations rose 7.4%, the Russian business daily Kommersant reported, citing data from Russia’s Central Dispatching Department of the Fuel and Energy Complex. Diesel prices rose 12.1% over the same period.

The problem isn’t just what gasoline costs. It’s finding any to buy. Some gas station chains in Moscow and St. Petersburg have reinstated limits on fuel sales. Tatneft stations in both cities are capping purchases at 50 liters (13 gallons) of gasoline and 60 liters (16 gallons) of diesel per customer. Gazprom Neft has set a 60-liter (16-gallon) ceiling on gasoline and none on diesel. Lines at Moscow gas stations had already begun forming over the weekend. Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the Russian government’s official newspaper, reported that some Muscovites are getting up at 5 a.m. to fill up before the lines form.

As of August 20, at least 59 regions had strict limits on fuel sales in place, according to data from BenZinMap, a portal that tracks Russia’s gasoline supply using publicly available sources. Another 17 regions are seeing localized supply disruptions or marked price increases. Gasoline and diesel were available at just 28% of Russian gas stations as of August 16, according to the GdeBenz app.

Russian news outlets say this second major wave of the fuel crisis is hitting the country unevenly. As in June, complaints about shortages are coming most often from Siberia. In the Bodaibo district of Siberia’s Irkutsk region, gasoline supplies could run out within a month, with no new deliveries expected. Shortages have also emerged in Krasnodar Krai, along with the Tambov and Astrakhan regions. The Samara region has extended its existing limits, though it now allows drivers to fill canisters.

Back in July, news outlets said Russia had begun importing fuel — from India and Morocco, among other countries — to ease the crisis. On August 20, the St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange held its first sales of imported gasoline, at 80 rubles a liter. Domestic fuel traded at an average of 54 rubles a liter. It’s not yet clear how much this could affect overall prices.

Motor oil supplies have also been disrupted amid the new wave of the crisis. There’s no outright shortage yet, but some product lines have disappeared from the market, delivery times have lengthened, and prices in some segments have jumped 40%. Both imported and Russian-made oils are affected. The disruptions stem from the shutdown of several refineries after drone strikes and from a shortage of the imported additives needed to make the oils.

Ukraine resumed strikes on Russian oil refineries in late July after a brief lull. The attacks have forced at least three refineries to suspend operations over the past month: in Tyumen and Ryazan, according to sources cited by Reuters, and in Orsk, in Russia’s Orenburg region. The local governor confirmed the Orsk shutdown, saying that repairs could take as long as six months and that the region would have to rely on “fuel brought in from elsewhere.”

Over the past several weeks, drone strikes have also been reported on refineries in Volgograd, Saratov, Yaroslavl, Nizhnekamsk, the Samara region, Krasnodar Krai, and Bashkortostan. The strikes usually set off fires.