Russia in a fuel frenzy: fuel crisis and sales stop in Crimea!

Russia in a fuel frenzy: fuel crisis and sales stop in Crimea!

Russia's energy sector is battling the impact of a deep crisis, further exacerbated by increased Ukrainian drone attacks on oil refineries. In recent months in particular, Russians have seen a decline in crude oil processing volumes. Processing fell to 4.86 million barrels per day, a decline of almost ten percent since July 2025. This development is sobering because refining output has reached its lowest level in at least five years and is 14 percent below 2021 levels, as merkur.de reported.

A burning inferno at key refineries shows the extent of this crisis. On Thursday night, two large refineries were hit by Ukrainian forces in the Krasnodar region and the Samara region. These facilities are responsible for a total of almost five percent of Russia's total volume - the Afipsky refinery processes 6.25 million tons of oil annually, while the Kuybyshevskji refinery processes 7 million tons annually, as n-tv.de reported.

The aggressive Ukrainian strategy aims to attack Russia's critical infrastructure. Since August 2025, around a third of the lakes from a total of 38 large refineries have been hit. The 48 percent increase in attacks compared to last year has forced many refineries to close to make necessary repairs, further reducing production levels. In recent weeks, affected sites have included numerous refineries in Russia, making fuel shortages increasingly acute, reports dw.com.

Restrictions on the sale of gasoline have been introduced in several Russian regions to regulate the situation. Since October 7th, customers in Tyumen have been allowed to fill up with a maximum of 30 liters of gasoline, while in Chelyabinsk only 30 liters of gasoline and 70 liters of diesel are sold per day. In Crimea the upper limit is 20 liters. At the Prime gas station chain in Novosibirsk, sales of AI-92 gasoline have been completely stopped due to delivery difficulties, exacerbating the emergency situation. This scarcity inevitably leads to price increases; So the price of AI-92 gasoline rose by three rubles in just two days, and on the Petersburg Stock Exchange wholesale prices for gasoline rose by almost ten percent in September, and even by about 50 percent since the beginning of the year, as merkur.de determines.

The impact of the fuel crisis is not limited to price increases. Long lines at gas stations are now common, and in some regions up to 14 percent of gas stations have had to close. The situation is particularly bad in Crimea, where half of all gas stations are affected. President Volodymyr Zelensky says that the gasoline shortage in Russia is now around 20 percent. This is all happening in a climate where the Treasury planned to increase the sales tax from 20 to 22 percent for 2026 to deal with the strains of the war economy, while military and security spending account for about 40 percent of government spending.

To ease the critical situation, the Russian government plans to ban exports of gasoline and diesel until the end of the year and increase imports from countries such as China and South Korea. Additionally, imports of Belarusian gasoline are reported to be increasing, but it remains unclear whether this will sufficiently alleviate the shortage. Russia faces the difficult question of how it will deal with these challenges in the long term.