Russia buys gasoline from India to tackle shortages, sources say

Russia has started seaborne imports of gasoline from India, two industry sources said on Wednesday, in an effort to mitigate fuel shortages triggered by Ukrainian attacks on its energy infrastructure.

Fuel shortages are being felt across Russia’s 11 time zones with rationing, long queues at filling stations and a record gasoline price increase.

The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Russia was in contact with other countries and discussing imports of fuel at acceptable prices.

Russia’s energy ministry and India’s oil ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

An industry source said at least 60,000 metric tons of gasoline have been dispatched from India to Russia. Another source said that two tankers, with parcels of 30,000 to 40,000 tons each, have been sent.

A third source said that in total, Russia plans to import 400,000 tons of gasoline from various countries each month, including from neighbouring Belarus, which has already been exporting fuel to Russia.

Gasoline consumption in Russia is at least 110,000 tons per day in summer, when demand for fuel is high.

It is not clear which Indian refiner will be supplying gasoline to Russia.

President Vladimir Putinacknowledged on Sunday at a meeting with government ministers and other officials that Ukrainian drone strikes on oil refineries had triggered fuel shortages in some regions, but said that Russia was dealing with them.

Belarus almost tripled gasoline rail supplies to Russia to more than 70,000 tons in the first half of June versus the first half of May, according to Reuters calculations and sources.

Russia’s parliament approved amendments to its tax code last week aimed at tackling the fuel shortages due to Ukrainian drone attacks, while also offering subsidies on fuel imports, pegged to Indian delivery costs and prices.

India’s crude oil imports from Russia surged to a record high in June, ship tracking data from LSEG and Kpler showed, as refiners snapped up Russian barrels to mitigate the impact of the Strait of Hormuz closure on other sources of supply.

Russian oil accounted for more than half of India’s overall imports in June, up from 36.5% in May, the Kpler data showed.

India, the world’s third-largest oil importer, received about 2.70 million barrels per day of oil from Russia in June, preliminary data from Kpler and LSEG showed.