India sent the first batch of petrol to Russia.

Russia imports gasoline from India due to fuel shortage in the domestic market

Russia has started importing Indian gasoline for the first time in response to a growing fuel shortage following a series of attacks on oil refining facilities. The first shipment, totaling 42,000 tons, arrived in the Russian market in August.

According to analytical company Kpler, as cited by Bloomberg, the fuel was delivered by tankers linked to Russia using ship-to-ship transfers off the Egyptian coast. The source of the fuel was Indian company Nayara Energy, in which the Russian oil giant “Rosneft” holds a stake. This move was in response to a decrease in oil production in Russia to 3.6 million barrels per day, which is one-third less than the usual seasonal level. This reduction was caused by a series of attacks on Russian refineries by the Ukrainian army.

In the fight against the shortage, the Russian government has imposed an export ban on fuel and significantly increased imports from Belarus, India, and Morocco. The complex logistical transport routes were carried out with the participation of the so-called Russian “shadow fleet,” much of which is under EU and US sanctions.

Filling the fuel shortage allows Russia to maintain price stability; however, dependency on imports may have economic consequences in the long term. In this context, queues are again observed at gas stations in the country’s regions, indicating the persistence of the shortage in the domestic market.