Russian Fuel Union fears country may suffer fuel shortage soon

Sergei Borisov, the head of the Russian Fuel Union, said that he feared many regions of Russia would soon start suffering from shortages of motor fuel. Supplies are dangerously low in 10 of the 22 regions that the union monitors, he said. A number of large cities -- including Kursk, Rostov-na-Donu, Saratov, Tomsk, Voronezh and Yaroslavl --- are running out of gasoline, he said. Meanwhile, Moscow filling stations are reportedly enjoying a surge in business as buyers from other regions flock to the capital to fill their tanks.

The country appears to be short by about 1 mm tons of gasoline, 3 mm tons of diesel fuel and 1.5 mm tons of fuel oil, he said. Under such conditions, Borisov remarked, it is possible that Russia will not be able to avoid a repeat of last year's fuel crisis. In the summer of 1999, he noted, gasoline prices soared by as much as 100 % in some cities and the Kremlin reacted to shortages by forcing oil refineries to supply a certain percentage of their output to the domestic market.
Borisov said that he expected prices to rise by around 10-15 % in the near future, thereby triggering a crisis. However, analysts downplayed his statements, saying that gasoline prices were expected to rise by about 10 % soon and that a crisis was not likely.