Gasoline production in Russia decreased

Gasoline production in Russia in the first 30 days of January decreased by 1.8 percent, to 3.49 million tons, compared to the same period last year. About this with reference to sources familiar with internal industry statistics, writes “Kommersant”.

3.047 million went to the domestic market, which is 6.5 percent more than from January 1 to January 30, 2023, and exports fell by 31.5 percent, to 442.3 thousand tons. Almost all large companies have reduced supplies abroad, including Lukoil by six times.

The main reason for the reduction in production was an accident at the Nizhny Novgorod oil refinery (NPZ) of Lukoil, which is responsible for fuel supplies to the Moscow region. The timing of the resumption of operation of one of the two catalytic cracking units is still unknown, since the supply of necessary parts is prohibited by sanctions. Due to a malfunction, the enterprise was unable to produce 200 thousand tons of AI-95 gasoline.

Drone attacks are also causing problems for the industry. In January, refineries in Tuapse and Ust-Luga were hit, but fuel is exported from there, so the situation does not affect the domestic market. The consequences of the explosion at the oil refinery in Volgograd, where a drone damaged the ELOU-AVT-5 primary oil refining unit, are still unknown. However, this plant is extremely important for the supply of fuel to the south of Russia; it processes 14 million tons per year.

Kpler analysts believe that in February, gasoline exports from Russia will drop quite significantly, as the reduction in corresponding shipments from refineries will begin to affect them. Supplies to North African countries and Nigeria will be hit the hardest.

It was previously reported that after a continuous monthly increase in gasoline prices on the St. Petersburg International Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange (SPIMEX), the cost of fuel collapsed in early December, which may be explained by the intervention of supervisory authorities.