Putin orders ban on petrol exports as fuel shortages hit Russia

Vladimir Putin has ordered a ban on petrol exports as fuel shortages hit Russia.

Putin, 71, announced a six-month ban in a bid to meet domestic demand from drivers and farmers.

The ban, which will come into force on March 1, was confirmed by a spokesman for Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.

It will allow for planned maintenance of refineries.

A similar ban was put into place between September and November last year.

The previous ban looked to tackle high domestic prices and shortages.

Ex-Soviet states Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan were exempt from the decision.

The latest ban will not extend to member states of the Eurasian Economic Union.

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Such a decision will allow Mongolia, Uzbekistan and two Russian-backed breakaway regions of Georgia to continue importing Russian petrol.

South Ossetia and Abkhazia broke away from Tblisi following the war of 2008.

Gazprom Neft’s Omsk refinery, Lukoil’s NORSI oil refinery in Nizhny Novgorod and Rosneft’s Ryazan refinery emerged as the top petrol producers in Russia last year.

Russia produced 43.9 million tons of petrol in 2023.

Exports totalled at around 5.8 million tons, approximately 13 per cent of production.

Nigeria, Libya, Tunisia and also United Arab Emirates are among the biggest importers of Russian gasoline.

The latest announcement comes after attacks on Russian facilities by Ukrainian drones in recent months.

Moscow and Kyiv have targeted each other’s energy infrastructure in a bid to disrupt supply lines and logistics.

Russia is already voluntarily cutting its oil and fuel exports by 500,000 barrels per day in the first quarter as part of OPEC+ efforts to support prices.