Gasoline Production Crisis Begins In Russia
- 28.03.2026, 15:59
Because of Ukraine's strikes on Baltic ports.
The stoppage of export transshipment of oil products through the Baltic port of Ust-Luga on March 25 after an attack by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) may force major refineries in the European part of Russia to reduce refining due to difficulties with product exports, Reuters reported citing market participants (translated by The Moscow Times).
They said the UAV strike at the Ust-Luga terminal damaged a railroad trestle for unloading oil products from tank cars, and the Ust-Luga Oil terminal on Wednesday stopped receiving volumes from Kirishinefteorgsintez (Kinef), Yaroslavnefteorgsintez (YANOS), Moscow and Ryazan refineries, among others. Earlier, on March 22, the neighboring port of Primorsk was hit by drones.
"Primorsk has not taken diesel fuel since Monday, Ust-Luga has stopped taking gasoline and fuel oil since Wednesday. In a few days we will have to reduce refining to a minimum, and further - up to a shutdown," a source told Reuters at one of the refineries in the European part of Russia.
The terminal in Ust-Luga is one of the main hubs in Russia for export transshipment of fuel with a throughput capacity of 30 million tons a year, including 19 million tons of dark oil products. Actual fuel oil deliveries for 2025 at the terminal amounted to about 18 million tons, of which more than 14 million tons are accounted for by the above-mentioned refineries, according to traders' estimates.
The damage to the export infrastructure on the Baltic, which prevents fuel oil exports, is the biggest problem for Russian refineries, they said. "Gasoline and diesel fuel can still somehow be additionally dispersed to the domestic market, but fuel oil is a huge problem," one of the industry sources said.
Sources say that the refineries supplying fuel for export via Ust-Luga have urgently started looking for alternative directions for export of dark oil products, and have also begun to optimize the refining scheme or reduce the load.
The total oil refining at Kinef, YANOS, Moscow Refinery and Ryazan Refinery, according to traders, is about 55 million tons.
Mazut, the production of which at the listed refineries makes from 18% to 35% of the volume of oil refined, does not find demand inside Russia, so refineries have to export it, while motor gasoline is almost completely consumed by the domestic market, diesel fuel - about two-thirds.
For refineries, the failure to export fuel oil threatens to shut down operations, and if its output is reduced by reducing refining, the output of motor gasoline will fall proportionally, which is undesirable during the seasonal growth of demand for the product, the sources said.
They said that now refineries are considering a set of anti-crisis measures to cope with the flow of fuel oil.
"In this situation, fuel oil is a locking product. We are considering how to change the output of dark (petroleum products) to a minimum. We will direct it as much as possible to bitumen, bunker fuel, and CHP. We look at other ports where we can quickly divert the dark ones. We will have to reduce processing and load secondary (capacities) to the limit," a source at the refinery said.
The terms of restoration of oil products reception at the terminal in Ust-Luga are still unknown.
At the same time, one of the fuel oil suppliers to the port - Kinef refinery - was itself attacked by UAVs on March 26 and may reduce processing for some time, which will partially alleviate the shortage of throughput capacity for fuel oil transshipment.
But, according to the source, it will still be difficult to quickly redirect fuel oil volumes to other ports: there are no terminals comparable in capacity to Ust-Luga in the northwest, and deliveries to remote ports increase the turnaround time of tank cars - additional fleet of railcars and railroad capacity will be required.
The Ust-Luga Oil terminal has four double-sided railroad trestles, three of which are designed to discharge fuel oil and vacuum gas oil. The trestles are capable of simultaneous unloading of 526 tank cars. The terminal's tank farm is designed to store 960 thousand cubic meters of oil products. Three berths have been built for transshipment of fuel to tankers with deadweight up to 300 thousand tons.