Russia buys 60,000 metric tonnes of petrol from India to tackle fuel shortage: Report | Today’s news
Russia has begun importing gasoline by sea from India, two industry sources said on Wednesday, in an effort to ease fuel shortages triggered by Ukrainian attacks on its energy infrastructure.
Fuel shortages are being felt across Russia’s 11 time zones with a rationing system, long queues at gas stations and a record rise in petrol prices.
The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Russia is in contact with other countries and is negotiating to import fuel at affordable prices.
Russia’s Energy Ministry and India’s Oil Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
An industry source said that at least 60,000 metric tonnes of petrol were shipped from India to Russia. Another source said two tankers were dispatched, each with packages weighing between 30,000 and 40,000 tons.
A third source said that in total, Russia plans to import 400,000 tons of gasoline each month from various countries, including neighboring Belarus, which already exported fuel to Russia.
Gasoline consumption in Russia is at least 110,000 tons per day in summer, when demand for fuel is high.
It is not clear which Indian refinery will supply gasoline to Russia. At a meeting with government ministers and other officials on Sunday, President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that Ukrainian drone strikes on oil refineries had caused fuel shortages in some regions, but said Russia was dealing with them.
According to Reuters calculations and sources, Belarus nearly tripled its rail gasoline deliveries to Russia to more than 70,000 tons in the first half of June compared to the first half of May.
Last week, Russia’s parliament approved changes to its tax code aimed at addressing fuel shortages caused by Ukrainian drone attacks, while also offering fuel import subsidies tied to Indian supply costs and prices.
India’s crude imports from Russia jumped to a record high in June, ship tracking data from LSEG and Kpler showed, as refiners picked up Russian barrels to ease the impact of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz on other sources of supply.
Russian crude accounted for more than half of India’s total imports in June, up from 36.5 percent in May, Kpler data showed.
India, the world’s third-largest oil importer, received about 2.70 million barrels of oil per day from Russia in June, preliminary data from Kpler and LSEG showed. (Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Alexander Smith)
