Russia begins importing gasoline by sea due to collapse in its own oil refining capacity - Reuters

Russia, the aggressor nation, intends to begin importing fuel by sea this month, as its own oil refining complex has suffered significant damage in recent months as a result of Ukrainian strikes.

Reuters reported this on Wednesday, June 17, citing its own sources.

Unnamed sources told the agency that Russia is set to receive a shipment of gasoline in June. The shipment is expected to be unloaded at one of its western ports.

One of the sources said the gasoline would be shipped to russia from an Asian country. The source did not disclose details regarding volumes or suppliers.

Another source noted that russia had considered importing fuel as early as last year, but ultimately found that domestic reserves were sufficient, so moscow abandoned the idea at that time.

However, this year, fuel supplies to the domestic market have been limited due to Ukraine’s ongoing campaign of strikes against oil refineries and other facilities in russia’s fuel and energy sector.

Russia previously imported fuel from Belarus, and small amounts were also purchased from Kazakhstan. But neither of these countries has sufficient reserve capacity to support russia in the event of a more serious crisis.

One of the sources interviewed by Reuters noted that maritime gasoline imports may only be a temporary measure and are unlikely to provide significant volumes due to logistical problems and high prices.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, yesterday, June 16, the russian publication The Bell wrote that restrictions on gasoline sales had been imposed in more than 50 regions of Russia. Eleven other regions have not yet implemented such restrictions, but fuel shortages have been reported there.

As a reminder, back in March of this year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated, citing intelligence data, that Ukrainian strikes had led to a reduction in oil refining volumes in russia by approximately 10%.

As a result, russian oil companies were forced to shut down hundreds of wells, which is particularly painful for moscow, since the nature of oil production in russia does not allow for the rapid opening or closing of wells.