Since the beginning of summer, when fuel shortages began, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has initiated almost three times more cases against oil companies and independent filling stations than in the first five months of the year. Currently, the FAS is reviewing 41 cases and has issued 68 warnings regarding signs of antimonopoly law violations. Meanwhile, in recent days, motorists have faced a second wave of the fuel crisis — gasoline is only available at 28% of filling stations, according to monitoring data. The situation continues to be affected by unscheduled repairs at refineries and logistics problems — despite substantial gasoline production, it is challenging to deliver it to some regions, experts explain. How the government is addressing the issue and when Indian gasoline, already delivered by tankers to Murmansk, will appear at Russian filling stations — as discussed in the article by "Izvestia."
FAS Activity Triples
The Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia initiated 41 cases against oil companies and independent market participants from the beginning of the year to August 17, and issued 68 warnings to economic entities regarding signs of antimonopoly law violations, the department's press service reported to "Izvestia."
As of May 21, the FAS and territorial bodies were reviewing 11 such cases against market participants in petroleum products. Thus, 30 cases were initiated over the summer — nearly three times more than in the first five months of the year.
All cases concern violations of articles of the "On Protection of Competition" law and the Administrative Offences Code, which prohibit the conclusion of cartel agreements and abuse of a dominant market position, as found by "Izvestia." Most violations have been recorded from independent companies owning filling stations in various regions, as well as from two firms selling fuel under the "Gazpromneft" brand, including LLC "Gazpromneft – Regional Sales" and two oil traders.
The antimonopoly service began to actively respond to price increases and legislative violations due to the government’s close attention to this issue, noted Dmitry Gusev, Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the "Reliable Partner" association. Additionally, due to rising exchange prices for fuel and supply shortages, owners of independent filling stations have begun to significantly raise prices, which has increased the number of public complaints to the FAS.
Sergey Tereshkin, General Director of Open Oil Market, believes that the increase in warnings and antimonopoly cases was predictable after the jump in fuel prices in June: the regulator is trying to "curtail the appetites" of several market participants and thus contribute to price stabilization.
New Wave of Queues at Filling Stations
In recent days, a new wave of fuel shortages and queues at filling stations has been observed in several regions. For instance, in Moscow, few filling stations periodically lack almost all grades of gasoline. On August 17, "Izvestia" correspondents visited 21 filling stations in Moscow and the surrounding area: the 92-octane was available at seven, 95-octane at six stations, and 98-octane only at five. Even diesel fuel is not universally available. The editorial team has sent an inquiry to the Moscow government.
On August 14, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak held another meeting regarding the situation in the domestic fuel market. A representative from the Ministry of Energy reported that a tense situation regarding fuel supply to filling stations persists in several regions of the country, as noted in a cabinet statement. Specifically, the issue of fuel supply for the Orenburg, Lipetsk, Tver, and Oryol regions, as well as Tuva, Khakassia, Krasnodar, Zabaykalsky, Primorsky, and Krasnoyarsk territories was raised.
According to the "GdeBENZ" app as of August 16, fuel was available at 28.1% of filling stations nationwide. A week prior, this figure was 41%. The availability of gasoline and diesel has decreased in the Volgograd, Chelyabinsk, Orenburg, Voronezh, Samara, Penza, Saratov, Lipetsk, Rostov regions, and in Tatarstan, according to the app's data.
The first wave of queues at filling stations in Russia emerged at the end of May and lasted for about a month and a half. At the end of July, Vice Prime Minister Novak stated that the fuel balance and situation at filling stations in Russia had improved.
According to Rosstat, during the week of August 4-10, a decrease in prices for automotive gasoline was recorded in 44 regions of Russia, most notably in the Republic of Dagestan (-9.1%). In Moscow, prices decreased by 0.2%. The highest price increase was noted in the Tver region — by 6.8%.
Overall, this indicates that the fuel situation in Russia is developing unevenly: while there are generally substantial gasoline production volumes, it is more challenging to deliver it to some regions, particularly due to logistics issues, a source in the industry told "Izvestia."
The Ministry of Energy informed "Izvestia" that they, along with regional authorities, other agencies, and oil companies, are taking measures to ensure that the domestic market has the necessary volumes of petroleum products.
The government has already imposed a temporary ban on fuel exports, allowed the circulation of gasoline of environmental classes Euro-2, Euro-3, and Euro-4, established an import damping mechanism to stimulate fuel supplies into the Russian Federation, and changed exchange trading mechanisms.
"Izvestia" sent inquiries to the office of Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak and to major oil companies.
The new wave of shortages has arisen due to ongoing attacks and unscheduled repairs at oil refineries, explained Igor Yushkov, lead analyst at the National Energy Security Fund. Additionally, August traditionally sees peak demand in the domestic market, particularly for gasoline.
Sergey Tereshkin believes that the absence of high-octane fuel grades at several filling stations is a consequence of the fact that even after the first wave of the crisis, the market balance remained quite fragile. The adjustment of logistics has helped stabilize the availability of fuel in large cities, but has not significantly affected the balance of supply and demand.
Dmitry Gusev notes that the market needs more systemic support measures. He considers a key necessity to be a more active transition of consumers to alternative types of engines and fuels. There are still logistics difficulties with fuel deliveries, the expert added.
In the near future, fuel from India is expected to reach Russian filling stations. A large batch arrived in Murmansk a few days ago but has not yet been discharged from the tankers, a source in the industry told "Izvestia." The cost of the batch was high, and purchasing it for resale on the internal market of the Russian Federation could mean selling at a loss for oil companies.
As reported by the media, Indian AI-92 was initially offered at 130,000 rubles per ton. Later, the price decreased to 110,000 rubles. However, as of August 17, the regional exchange index for AI-92 in the European part of Russia was approximately 73,000 rubles per ton, according to data from the Saint Petersburg International Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange. Nevertheless, as added by the informant, acceptable conditions for fuel discharge have indeed been agreed upon.
Sergey Tereshkin believes that the further development of the situation will depend on the duration of technological downtime at refineries. He also believes that imports from Belarus and the easing of environmental requirements will have a more significant impact on the physical availability of fuel than supplies from India, which require logistics and price mechanisms to be adjusted to reach a meaningful level.
Source: Izvestia
