Special Measures: Mobile Gas Stations Should Not Be Used to Legalize the Sale of Fuel from “Barrels” in Ukraine
14 August 12:35
ANALYSIS
Ukrainian gas stations have been regularly targeted by the enemy in recent weeks. There are even communities where not a single gas station has survived. This is forcing both the government and fuel suppliers to think not only about protecting facilities but also about organizing a mobile gas station network. "Komersant Ukrainian" investigated what such a network might look like.
Gas stations are coming under enemy attack, primarily in regions near the front lines. But gas stations in other regions are also being targeted. For example, on August 10, Russian drones struck gas stations in the Poltava region, and after that, it is said that not a single gas station remained in the Opishnia community. Most often, the enemy attacks gas stations in the Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, and Kharkiv regions. As of early August, the number of damaged or destroyed facilities was estimated at approximately 4 percent of the total number of gas stations in Ukraine. But the attacks continue. And in some areas, the number of gas stations that have been hit and are out of service has already reached 30 percent or more. This is certainly a problem at the regional level that needs to be resolved quickly.
An obvious option for supplying fuel to affected areas is the use of mobile gas stations. In some localities, officials have already rushed to give an unofficial “green light” to “on-the-wheel” sales. However, the government is advocating a different approach and is preparing legislative changes that will allow for the legal use of mobile gas stations—specifically in those communities where such stations will be needed. Currently, this effort is in the stage of gathering proposals from market participants and government agencies.
The Fuel and Energy Business Association, for example, is fundamentally “against” the blanket legalization—across all of Ukraine—of “barrel” stations, modular stations, or mobile gas stations. They believe that stationary gas stations should remain the standard model for the retail fuel market. Mobile gas stations, on the other hand, are needed as a temporary, controlled, and geographically limited reserve for communities where stationary infrastructure has been destroyed, damaged, or where its operation has become dangerous or virtually impossible. The right to operate under a special regime should be granted to existing licensed operators—primarily those who have lost their stationary gas stations—and they must carry out this work with full fiscal oversight, fuel traceability, and compliance with safety requirements.
Tatyana Dumenkova, deputy chair of the Fuel and Energy Business Association, in a comment to the publication
“Only an entity that already holds a valid license for retail fuel sales, maintains proper tax records, and can verify the origin of the fuel should be permitted to operate mobile gas stations. Priority should be given to operators who have lost or are temporarily unable to operate their own stationary gas stations. It makes sense to register a mobile gas station as an additional reserve facility under the existing license without obtaining a new full-fledged license for each short-term location. And this should be done before an emergency arises. “After an attack, businesses should not have to start the lengthy procedure from scratch—there should be a streamlined activation process and notification of regulatory authorities,” the expert believes.
According to her, mobile gas stations should operate only in designated frontline or high-risk areas and only for as long as the regular infrastructure cannot serve the community.
“The operation of mobile gas stations should begin in accordance with circumstances defined by law and, if necessary, based on a decision by regional authorities. This will allow such mobile gas stations to be directed precisely to areas where there is no access to fuel, rather than using them as a commercial advantage in the regular market,” notes Tetyana Dumenkova.
In her view, a special—but not “unregulated”—procedure for excise tax administration is also needed.
“Fuel must come only from legal sources; its movement, receipt, inventory, and dispensing must be recorded in the required accounting records, and all transactions must be processed through a cash register or point-of-sale system with the issuance of a fiscal receipt. It is also necessary to provide for the possibility of offline operation in the event of a loss of connection, with subsequent data transfer,” the expert notes.
Requirements regarding equipment, measuring instruments, fire and industrial safety, emergency suspension of sales, staff training, and the selection of the work location must also be clearly defined and adhered to. In fact, all of this is what will distinguish the anti-crisis mechanism from the “legalization of barrels.”
Tetyana Dumenkova, deputy chair of the Fuel and Energy Business Association, also has her own vision of what the government’s decision should look like under the current circumstances.
“This should not be a standalone decision limited to mobile gas stations, but a comprehensive state ‘Plan B’ for fuel supply. Its purpose is to prevent a situation where, after a series of attacks, the community is left without fuel. Each region and community must have an assessment of minimum fuel needs, a list of priority consumers, backup routes, alternative suppliers, and pre-determined, safer locations for the temporary operation of mobile gas stations. “The exact locations and routes should not be made public,” the expert notes.
At the same time, she believes the plan will not work if a destroyed facility continues to pay taxes as if it were still operating.
“Damaged, destroyed, and documented as non-operational gas stations should be exempt from advance income tax payments for the entire period of actual inactivity or restoration,” emphasizes Tetyana Dumenkova.
According to her, the Fuel and Energy Business Association proposes not to repeal the rules, but to create rules that can realistically be implemented during wartime and that allow legal operators to continue supplying the community with fuel.
