Russia well prepared for refinery maintenances with high fuel stockpiles
Russia has ample motor fuel inventories to offset possible shortages during refinery maintenances, an official at the energy ministry said on Tuesday.
Russia's oil refining sector has suffered from Ukrainian drone attacks and technical outages in the past year.
The government had to introduce temporary restrictions on exports of gasoline and diesel several times to tackle possible fuel shortages.
Peak oil refinery maintenance is expected in September.
Roman Kabakov, an official in the energy ministry's oil and gas department, said gasoline inventories in early April were 1.95 MM tonnes (t), on par with the year-earlier level, while he estimated diesel stockpiles at 3.1 MMt.
That was still down from 2 MMt and 3.3 MMt, respectively, from the levels he cited at the end of February.
He also said on Tuesday that the energy ministry expected production of gasoline and diesel to rise in Russia this year, while domestic consumption was seen steady.
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