04-12-00 The Russian government announced that producers of fuel oil would not be allowed to export more than 5 % of their output in the month of December. The move was designed to ensure deliveries of refined fuels to key domestic customers, including power plants, military installations and agricultural enterprises. However, market analysts noted that Russian refineries have been finding ways to evade such restrictive quotas.
Sometimes, they said, fuel oil manufacturers market their product under other names. Producers have also started producing more diesel for export in order to make up the slack from foreign fuel oil sales.

Diesel exports are not yet growing as fast as fuel oil exports, however. According to estimates from the Chase brokerage, Russian producers exported 18.6 mm tons of diesel in the first nine months of the year, 1.5 % more than in the same period of 1999, and 24.8 mm tons of fuel oil, or 32 % more than in the same period of 1999. Chase also noted that Russian refiners had turned out 36.8 mm tons of diesel and 36.3 mm tons of fuel oil in the January-September interval, up 6.2 % and 0.9 %, respectively, on the figures posted in the same period of last year.