Local interruptions in fuel supply to vehicle filling stations located in various regions of Russia are due to logistical problems and the similarity of wholesale and retail prices. Nikolai Baranov, project manager of the Petromarket research group, spoke about this. DEA News.
The material shows that in August, various regions of Russia experienced an increase in the cost of fuel and delays in its supply. The agency noted that this mainly affects the southern regions of the country.
Difficulties arose for various reasons, as Baranov noted. One of them is the logistical difficulties, which means the congestion of the railway infrastructure and the consequent increased timing of the supply of petroleum products to the respective bases.
The expert also drew attention to the inequality between wholesale and retail prices.
“Today wholesale prices have almost caught up with those at gas stations of VINKs (vertical integrated oil companies – socialbites.ca), so independent retail suffers: they either have to stop trading or set prices at 3-4 The Agency’s interlocutor, from VINK gas stations stressed that more rubles is higher.
He added that fuel demand increased markedly during the holiday season. Baranov explained that as a result, all these reasons combined to cause a shortage of resources at some gas stations.
According to him, this situation can be solved by increasing retail fuel prices. The expert said that another way is to increase the damper payments to reduce the wholesale cost of petroleum products.
At the same time, the agency’s interlocutor denied the information about the fuel shortage in the country. According to the information he obtained, as of the beginning of August, the gasoline reserves in Russia reached 2.034 million tons. This value was 4.4% higher than in 2022 in the same period.
Diesel fuel reserves amounted to 2.177 million tons. Baranov pointed out that the amount of such resources is 23% higher than the relevant figures of last year.
Previously at the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation commented problems in the supply of fuel to the southern regions of the country.