Independent operators complained to the president about fuel shortages

Independent oil traders complained to the authorities about fuel starvation, which arose due to the fact that the main fuel producers in the Far East, OJSC NK Alliance and OJSC Rosneft, do not list the products of their plants located closer to Far Eastern consumers on the exchanges and leave operators no alternative. The Alliance admits that it does not have the resources to provide independent gas stations, but the idea of creating a regional exchange is critically assessed. Experts believe that resellers do not take into account the temporary difficulties experienced by oil companies, and the situation will be resolved only after the completion of the reconstruction of local plants.

Independent fuel operators of the Far East compiled a collective appeal addressed to the president, his Far Eastern plenipotentiary, the government and State Duma deputies. In a message to officials, 35 oil traders report that the regions of the Far Eastern Federal District are gripped by “another crisis in providing consumers with fuels and lubricants (fuels and lubricants).” “The fuel and lubricants market is in a fever” due to the refusal of the companies Vostoknefteprodukt and Khabarovsknefteprodukt (subsidiaries of Rosneft and NK Alliance - Kommersant) to “implement timely planned requests from independent organized consumers,” businessmen said. Traders believe that such behavior is aimed at “eliminating independent gas stations” and are asking to resume trading in petroleum products from local refineries from exchange platforms.

Independent operators in the Far East believe that due to the attractiveness of export prices, leading companies send petroleum products to foreign markets, leaving local traders' fuel tankers empty. Monopolists, said Vladimir Chirskov, general director of the Primorye fuel company Komplekt Service LLC, only benefit from “artificial shortages” by replacing the volumes of independent participants through their own gas stations.

At the moment, independent traders buy fuel and lubricants at the commodity exchanges of Moscow and St. Petersburg, but there are still no products from local factories there, businessmen complain. According to the general director of Neman LLC, Anatoly Gaineev, his company buys gasoline at Ufa refineries for 37.5 thousand rubles. per ton, which gives the cost per liter in the region 29.5–30 rubles. and a selling price of 32 rubles. But now at independent gas stations in Khabarovsk a liter of gasoline costs 28.45 rubles, in Komsomolsk-on-Amur - 29.30 rubles, that is, traders are forced to work at a loss. It is obviously unprofitable for them to transport fuel from the center: transporting a ton from Ufa to Vladivostok will cost 8 thousand rubles, and, for example, from the Komsomolsk Oil Refinery - 1.8 thousand rubles.

NC Alliance argues that the causes of the deficit are systemic, and the deficit can only be partially solved through infrastructure development. “There are two factories in the Far East, fuel consumption is 1 million tons per year. That is, about 200 thousand tons additionally need to be imported,” says Alliance press secretary Andrei Rumyantsev. According to Mr. Rumyantsev, the KhNPZ today could process over 4.5 million tons per year if the railway could transport such volumes of raw materials and products, and if the entire basket of the plant’s products was in demand. “Until there is a connection to the pipe (the branch from the ESPO oil pipeline. - Kommersant), we will not have a sufficient volume of reforming raw materials to increase the production of commercial gasoline,” insists Mr. Rumyantsev. To provide independent gas stations, the NK representative adds, the company simply does not have the resources.

Andrey Rumyantsev is also critical of the possibility of trading gasoline on the stock exchange, even if it were created in the Far East. “If we achieve uninterrupted supply at low prices, we need to increase production and reduce costs, and stimulate the development of oil refining. If we seek an exchange, well, the price will be transparent, but will this transparent price make us happy? Demand in the region exceeds supply,” says an Alliance representative.

Director of the Oil and Gas Institute of the Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU), Alexander Gulkov, believes that oil traders took advantage of the temporary difficulties that Rosneft is experiencing in connection with the reconstruction of the plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur and the withdrawal of part of its production capacity. The expected increase in oil refining will occur only after the completion of work, as well as after the construction of branches from the ESPO oil pipeline to the Komsomolsk oil refinery of Rosneft and to the Khabarovsk oil refinery of Alliance. “Independent traders, of course, create competition, but the presence of a large number of gas stations, especially in remote areas, can hardly be considered a plus; they are resellers,” says Alexander Gulko. In his opinion, Rosneft today has the base to cover the Far East market. Previously, the region was dominated by Alliance Oil Company, but now the company has much less opportunities: Alliance itself buys oil, while Rosneft is both a producer, an exporter and a refiner. “For the state, the development of the domestic market and increasing processing is not so critical, because the state of the economy is determined by the export of raw materials,” says the expert.

Oleg Belov; Maria Konstantinova, Vadim Pasmurtsev, Khabarovsk

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