Indian gasoline imported into Russia turned out to be twice as expensive as Russian gasoline and did not reach gas stations
16 August 16:25
The gasoline shipments from India, which Russia began purchasing in July to cover its domestic fuel shortage, never actually reached either gas stations or the wholesale market, according to [Kommersant], citing Russian propaganda media.
The Indian gasoline is “stuck” at the port of Murmansk and has not been unloaded from the tankers because oil companies cannot agree on a selling price.
According to one of the media outlet’s sources, oil importers are offering to buy the Indian gasoline for 150,000 rubles per metric ton (about 111 rubles per liter), which is twice as high as wholesale prices on the St. Petersburg Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange: as of August 13, AI-96 was trading at 77,600 rubles per metric ton there.
According to Bloomberg, a tanker carrying Indian gasoline arrived in Murmansk on August 5. The fuel was supplied by the Nayara Energy refinery, which is 49% owned by Rosneft.
The technical option to purchase gasoline with a “Kola Station” basis on the Oktyabrskaya Railway in the Murmansk region became available on the exchange on July 29. However, no shipments were sold. Regulators are insisting that oil companies sell Indian gasoline at domestic Russian prices, but importers cite logistical challenges: it takes more than a month to sail from Indian ports to the Russian Arctic. In addition, the gasoline had to be transferred from one tanker to another en route.
According to one media source, Indian gasoline was initially offered at 130,000 rubles per metric ton, then at 110,000 rubles. For now, it remains in the tankers.
Belarusian AI-92 gasoline costs roughly the same in Russia—140,000–142,000 rubles per metric ton. Sources say that AI-95 gasoline from Belarus costs 180,000 rubles per metric ton (135 rubles per liter). In total, since the beginning of the year, two Belarusian refineries have shipped a record 665,000 metric tons of gasoline to Russia by rail—25 times more than a year earlier. In July, shipments reached 212,000 metric tons, Reuters sources previously reported.
Indian refineries, according to the sources, have agreed to supply Russia with about 100,000 metric tons of gasoline. In addition, Lukoil purchased a single shipment of 30,000 metric tons from Morocco. That shipment also remains unloaded at the port of Murmansk, sources said.
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