Russian railway gasoline exports more than doubled in December
Russia more than doubled railway exports of gasoline in the first 17 days of December from the same period in November on lifted fuel embargo and rising production, while domestic demand is seasonally falling, data provided by two market sources and Reuters calculations showed.
Russia temporarily banned exports of gasoline from Sept. 21 to cope with a domestic market shortage. Exceptions were made for fuel supplied under inter-governmental agreements, including with members of the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union.
Restrictions on gasoline exports were lifted from Nov. 17 as "saturation of the domestic market has been ensured and a surplus in the supply of motor gasoline has been created", according to the energy ministry.
According to Reuters calculations based on Rosstat data, the average daily production of gasoline at Russian refineries from December 1-17 totalled 130,311 metric tons, up by 4.8% from November and 6.5% from December 2022.
In the first 17 days of this month, Russian refineries exported by rail about 250,000 metric tons of gasoline versus 111,000 metric tons in the same period of November, data from market sources showed.
About a third of those volumes (nearly 83,000 metric tons) was supplied to the Russian Baltic port of Ust-Luga.
During December 1-17, Russia almost tripled gasoline exports to Uzbekistan, which signed in November an agreement on oil and oil product supplies to ensure stable supplies.
About 20,000 metric tons of gasoline were shipped by rail this month for export via the Russian Arctic port of Murmansk, data from the market sources showed.
Traders expect further growth of gasoline exports from Russia, as domestic demand is traditionally falling during the winter months.
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