Russia’s Fuel Crisis Deepens As Kremlin Warns Gas Station Owners
The post Russia’s Fuel Crisis Deepens As Kremlin Warns Gas Station Owners appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA – 2022/04/10: Lukoil logo seen outside a petrol station in St. Petersburg, Russia. (Photo by Maksim Konstantinov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Russia’s fuel crisis is worsening, and officials are no longer able to conceal the scale of the problem. The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has begun issuing warnings to gas station operators across the country over what it calls unjustified price hikes, according to the Russian outlet Izvestia, as fuel prices have risen 40–50% since the start of the year, adding fresh inflationary pressure on the public. With gas prices surging, many Russian gas station owners risk going out of business. On Sept. 24, Kommersant reported that roughly 50% of stations in occupied Crimea and Sevastopol had stopped selling gasoline amid severe supply disruptions. Gas Stations Buckle Under Pressure The Russian Fuel Union warned that gas station profitability has turned negative, with wholesale prices in some regions matching or exceeding retail. Shipment delays of up to two months are draining capital and forcing closures among independent operators, who run about 60% of Russia’s stations. The Russian economist Vladislav Inozemtsev said that Ukraine has “hit the nail on the head” by targeting refineries, creating the most complex fuel crisis Russia has faced in years. He estimates that more than 300 independent fuel retailers have been forced to shut down since May. Data from the analytics firm Ciala highlights the scale of the crisis. By the end of Sept., nearly 38% of Russia’s refining capacity, or about 338,000 tons of crude per day, was offline. Around 70% of these outages were caused by Ukrainian drone strikes, which knocked out roughly a quarter of Russia’s total refining capacity, equal to 236,000 tons per day. One Ukrainian officer told The Atlantic that the strikes deliberately focus…
Filed under: News - @ October 1, 2025 10:25 pm