Russia has announced to stop exporting gasoline for six months. This decision will be effective from next week. The country's official news agency Tass reported that the decision was taken as local demand for gasoline increased.
Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin approved the proposal. Gasoline exports from Russia are scheduled to stop on March 1. Similar restrictions were imposed last year to avoid supply shortages and rising prices in the local market, Al-Jazeera reported.
According to the Russian media RBC, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak proposed to stop the export of gasoline. In a letter on February 21, he said that the demand for oil in the local market will soon increase due to the season. He said that steps should be taken to ensure market stability.
This decision to stop the export of gasoline will not apply to the member countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). These countries are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
In addition, the ban will not apply to Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which are separated from Mongolia, Uzbekistan and Georgia.
Russia stopped exporting fuel last September. The ban was imposed before the arrival of winter. At that time, demand increased and oil prices rose and the market was in short supply.
At that time Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan were kept out of its scope. But most of the restrictions were lifted in November.
The latest round of bans is for a longer period. There are indications that the Kremlin is trying to keep oil prices under control ahead of Russia's presidential election on March 15-17.
Stopping gasoline exports will free up time for maintenance and repair of oil refineries. These refineries have been hit by a number of attacks in recent months due to the war in Ukraine.
Russia last month cut gasoline exports to countries that are not members of the Commonwealth of Independent Countries due to damaged energy infrastructure.
In 2023, Russia produced 4.39 million tons of gasoline. Out of this, 5.760 thousand tons of petrol was exported. Some African countries are the biggest importers of Russian gasoline; These include Nigeria, Libya, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates.
The OPEC group and its allies have cut production in an effort to prop up oil prices. As part of this effort, Russia is now voluntarily exporting 500,000 barrels of oil and fuel less per day.
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