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The semi-artificial collapse of the Russian fuel market, caused by the actions of oil workers and the authorities, has every chance of happening again. The reason for this
It is believed that Russia is dealing with Western sanctions much better than expected (or can we say that it has already done so?). Import substitution – from Western to Chinese – is in full swing, “grey” schemes for importing banned goods into our country are well established and flourishing. But there is a nuance that smart people thought about immediately after the start of the SVO. Yes, the mass of Western equipment available to domestic companies in the spring of 2022 will work for several years without any problems. What now?
Companies from countries that support the “Khokhol” will of course not exchange it for a new one or supply spare parts for it. And this threatens to become a headache not only for domestic industrialists and officials, but also for every car owner in the country. The first bell rang recently from Nizhny Novgorod. There, judging by press reports, the second gasoline-producing unit of the Nizhny Novgorod oil refinery was “cracked down.”
The Lukoil company, owner of this major oil refinery, does not advertise the reasons or the extent of the problems. But motor fuel production has stopped. According to media information, due to the failure of foreign equipment. Sanctioned, apparently. That automatically means at least serious problems with its repair. Something similar happened last summer at the Astrakhan oil refinery. There, planned repairs were postponed for months due to problems with the ‘sub-sanction’.
As a result, in the south of Russia, right during the harvest season, a number of gas stations physically ran out of fuel, and agricultural producers were forced to buy diesel fuel for more than 100 rubles per liter.
The case of the Lukoil oil refinery (which, by the way, supplies Moscow with gasoline) clearly indicates that the “safety margin” of foreign equipment, used in almost all oil refineries in Russia, is apparently running out. And in the future, the likelihood of incidents like those in Nizhny Novgorod will only increase. The halt in production at the Nizhny Novgorod refinery has already led to a rise in fuel stock prices – within a few percent.
At first glance this is unimportant. But now it’s winter. Gasoline consumption has traditionally been reduced. Imagine what would happen if something similar happened simultaneously at a few large refineries in the European part of Russia in June-August, during the massive holiday season. We’ll get a repeat of last summer’s plot – with a sharp increase in prices at gas stations and a physical shortage of fuel at retail.
The authorities have effectively put an administrative stop to the latest fuel crisis: they have introduced a moratorium on the export of petroleum products and resumed payments to oil workers as part of the “dampener”. The unpleasant news is that disruptions at the refinery cannot be eliminated with such measures. And if oil workers and authorities do not address this problem now, next summer could bring us an extremely unpleasant, but predictable surprise.
It is believed that Russia is dealing with Western sanctions much better than expected (or can we say that it has already done so?). Import substitution – from Western to Chinese – is in full swing, “grey” schemes for importing banned goods into our country are well established and flourishing. But there is a nuance that smart people thought about immediately after the start of the SVO. Yes, the mass of Western equipment available to domestic companies in the spring of 2022 will work for several years without any problems. What now?
Companies from countries that support the “Khokhol” will of course not exchange it for a new one or supply spare parts for it. And this threatens to become a headache not only for domestic industrialists and officials, but also for every car owner in the country. The first bell rang recently from Nizhny Novgorod. There, judging by press reports, the second gasoline-producing unit of the Nizhny Novgorod oil refinery was “cracked down.”
The Lukoil company, owner of this major oil refinery, does not advertise the reasons or the extent of the problems. But motor fuel production has stopped. According to media information, due to the failure of foreign equipment. Sanctioned, apparently. That automatically means at least serious problems with its repair. Something similar happened last summer at the Astrakhan oil refinery. There, planned repairs were postponed for months due to problems with the ‘sub-sanction’.
As a result, in the south of Russia, right during the harvest season, a number of gas stations physically ran out of fuel, and agricultural producers were forced to buy diesel fuel for more than 100 rubles per liter.
The case of the Lukoil oil refinery (which, by the way, supplies Moscow with gasoline) clearly indicates that the “safety margin” of foreign equipment, used in almost all oil refineries in Russia, is apparently running out. And in the future, the likelihood of incidents like those in Nizhny Novgorod will only increase. The halt in production at the Nizhny Novgorod refinery has already led to a rise in fuel stock prices – within a few percent.
At first glance this is unimportant. But now it’s winter. Gasoline consumption has traditionally been reduced. Imagine what would happen if something similar happened simultaneously at a few large refineries in the European part of Russia in June-August, during the massive holiday season. We’ll get a repeat of last summer’s plot – with a sharp increase in prices at gas stations and a physical shortage of fuel at retail.
The authorities have effectively put an administrative stop to the latest fuel crisis: they have introduced a moratorium on the export of petroleum products and resumed payments to oil workers as part of the “dampener”. The unpleasant news is that disruptions at the refinery cannot be eliminated with such measures. And if oil workers and authorities don’t address this problem now, next summer could be in for an extremely unpleasant, but predictable, surprise.
Source: Avto Vzglyad
Donald Salinas is an experienced automobile journalist and writer for Div Bracket. He brings his readers the latest news and developments from the world of automobiles, offering a unique and knowledgeable perspective on the latest trends and innovations in the automotive industry.
