Filling Stations Are Closing En Masse in russia

One in fifty filling stations in russia has stopped selling petrol. Within two months, the number of filling stations has decreased by 360, or by 2.6 %. Independent filling stations have been hit the hardest, with their number having decreased by 4.1 %, while among filling stations owned by vertically integrated oil companies, the decline was only 0.8 %.

Some chains that continue to operate in conditions of local fuel shortages have been forced to impose restrictions on petrol sales of 10-20 liters per customer or to temporarily sell only diesel fuel.

The greatest difficulties are being experienced in the Southern Federal District, where more than 220 filling stations, or 14.2 % of the total number in the region, have stopped selling fuel. In Rostov region, Mari El, and the Jewish Autonomous Region, the number of filling stations has decreased by 12-14 %.

The fuel crisis has also reached the city of moscow, moscow and Leningrad regions. In moscow, “Lukoil” has banned the sale of petrol in cans at certain filling stations. Business representatives in moscow and Leningrad regions have also reported restrictions at filling stations.

The most acute situation is observed in the temporarily occupied Crimea and Sevastopol, where about half of the filling stations have stopped selling petrol. The head of the Peninsula’s occupying administration sergey aksenov has asked residents to “be patient” and explained the shortage by “objective reasons”, “due to a decrease in production at russia’s oil refineries”.

The fuel shortage in russia will worsen, as most oil refineries and oil depots are concentrated in the western part of the rf.