"We spent the night in line." Fuel crisis: Russia is using up reserves

Russia began to use fuel reserves. Vladimir Putin announced this on Sunday at a government meeting on providing fuel to the domestic market. According to him, “the capacities of the largest refineries in Russia are used to the maximum, and gasoline reserves now practically correspond to the level of last year (1.7 million tons).” Meanwhile, in Russian regions the situation with gasoline and diesel fuel continues to worsen.

In the Irkutsk region, due to a fuel shortage , a high alert regime was declared. The authorities of Transbaikalia did the same, where people have been standing in line for more than a day . The shortage has also reached Moscow: in particular, Lukoil has temporarily closed almost all of its gas stations in the capital.

Such a difficult situation is primarily due to Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil refineries. In some regions there is not enough fuel even for ambulances and firefighters. In a number of regions, operators of garbage trucks and minibuses reported a suspension of work.

“We never got an ambulance”

The situation in the Trans-Baikal Territory has developed into a full-fledged crisis: the regional authorities have officially confirmed that AI-95 gasoline has completely disappeared in Chita and its districts, and that it is impossible to find AI-100 outside the regional capital. On June 27, local authorities introduced a high alert regime.

At the last meeting of the regional commission for the prevention and liquidation of emergency situations, officials determined a list of priority fuel consumers. It included emergency response services - ambulance, firefighters, emergency department units, law enforcement agencies, emergency and dispatch services. Only after this do ordinary citizens, housing and communal services enterprises, food supply organizations and “other categories of consumers” follow on the list.

“The list is a list, but the ambulance never came to us.” My husband with diabetes fell into a coma five days ago, and I myself could no longer bring him out of this state, I could not administer glucose due to bad veins. Convulsions began, he lost consciousness, says Victoria , a resident of one of the villages in the southeast of Transbaikalia (the names of our speakers have been changed for their safety). “We always call an ambulance only as a last resort, because we have to wait two to three hours even in very emergency situations. We don’t even have an ambulance station in our area - they come from the central district hospital. This time I didn't wait for them at all. After a couple of hours, the dispatcher took pity and admitted - he said, look for the car yourself, we don’t have gasoline. The hospital is 90 kilometers away. I walked 15 kilometers to the neighboring village so that my husband’s friend would take him. They pumped him out, but it is still unclear how a many-hour coma will affect his condition. They would definitely have lost some stroke patient by now. So these lists do not solve anything - there is simply no gasoline.

In recent reports, regional authorities have confirmed that there is no AI-95 in Chita and surrounding districts, and no AI-100 outside the regional capital. At the same time, trying to reassure citizens, officials published information about fuel reserves at gas stations. According to the administration, at each gas station in Chita, depending on the station, daily there are from 200 to 1000 liters of AI-92 gasoline and from 200 to 800 liters of diesel fuel.

“Residents are advised to limit their movement by car within the region and beyond,” the regional administration announced .

However, instead of reducing tensions, this announcement only increased the excitement.

– We stand in queues for 12 hours or more, filling up our 15 liters. And we secretly drag the canister to add another 15 liters. Now they have started to monitor this. How else? If my children used to take the bus to clubs and the gym, now these bitches have closed some of the routes, and I have to transport the family myself. These 15 liters are not enough for me per day,” says Chita resident Nikolai . “You have to go to work on the outskirts yourself; there was never a route there. What should we replace the car with if they are only cutting routes and not introducing new ones?

The authorities announced some of the cuts in advance, however, according to locals, many routes were canceled without warning. Thus, the administration of the Borzinsky district announced a reduction in the schedule of city buses on routes No. 3 and No. 4; they did not hide the reason - a shortage of diesel fuel.

– And our flight to Ugdan was canceled without any announcement. I just couldn't go home in the evening. I spent the night at the station like a homeless person. And the tickets went up in price – by 10–20 rubles. Now a trip of 17 kilometers costs 80 rubles. Where is this for a hard worker with a salary of 37 thousand who still has a family to feed? - Alexey is indignant. “And I can’t not travel: there is no work at all in my village.” I'm lucky that the garbage is still being taken out.

Due to the lack of fuel, the region was on the verge of a sanitary disaster. Back on June 25, the regional operator for the management of solid waste "Oleron+" announced a temporary suspension of the operation of garbage trucks in four districts of the region at once - Chernyshevsky, Sretensky, Gazimuro-Zavodsky and Krasnokamensky. The company directly referred to the lack of fuel.

“In fact, they haven’t taken it out for a week now.” Garbage lies in the yards, rotting, rats, stray dogs. How long will this “temporary” last? If it’s another month, we’ll die here from the smell,” says Krasnokamensk resident Ekaterina . – The tourist season is also over. No one will go to the lakes without fuel supplies. And people actually storm gas stations to get their miserable 15 liters.

Residents of Chita say that fights have broken out at Rosneft gas stations more than once, and places in line have begun to be sold

– On Obvodnoye Highway, near Smolenka, the line to Rosneft is now at least three kilometers long. And this is not the most popular gas station. We work from four to five in the morning. If you arrived on a weekday at eight, you were left without gasoline,” says a salesman from Chita, Grigory . “The day before, the gas station in Peschanka was literally stormed. Some kind of scuffle started from the side of the VAI building, then a real fight. That is, not only might you not get fuel, you might also get beaten. AI-92 already costs 75 rubles per liter at the Neftemarket gas station. At Rosneft it’s ten rubles cheaper, but you can’t wait in line there - or you have to pay for a seat. Now advertisements have already appeared in chats: a place in the top twenty cars is being sold for 800 rubles.

On June 28, a video was circulated in Chita telegram channels in which one of the local residents talks about her experience of purchasing gasoline: “Good morning everyone! I’ve been standing at Rosneft, which is located in Ugdan, for a day and a half. Yesterday I never got to the gas station, because literally before the turn a line stopped for us, and we simply didn’t go home anymore, because it’s already a matter of principle. On a hot tank. to stand there for a day - we have already decided to spend the night and stay so that we can at least refuel first this morning, and the line is not getting smaller, it seems to me that it is only getting longer.”

Trying to get around strict limits, car owners resort to any tricks.

– The flow is large, gas station workers do not have time to control everything. In some places they only accept cash, because particularly cunning drivers poured gasoline into cans hidden in the trunk,” says Grigory. - But this is a big risk. Before my eyes, one of these people was beaten by people standing next in line. He shouted that he needed to go to Kurumkan to see his sick mother. And this is a thousand kilometers. He needs at least a hundred liters, and along the road there are either empty gas stations or huge queues. On the one hand, I feel sorry for the person, on the other, everyone’s nerves are already on edge.

"We'll put dry toilets for drivers in line"

The sharpest increase in gasoline prices occurred in Crimea, annexed by Russia. Even pro-government speakers state this.

“A 100% increase in the price of gasoline in Crimea. Yesterday, the governor of Sevastopol Razvozhaev announced the sale of gasoline using QR codes. Today, Sevastopol residents are sharing photographs of the cost of gasoline. In total, as a result of problems with logistics, gasoline on the peninsula has risen in price by 100%,” writes pro-Kremlin political scientist Yuri Baranchik in his Telegram channel.

In Siberia, record fuel prices were recorded in the Irkutsk region. At Kraisneft gas stations, the cost of a liter of gasoline reaches 121 rubles.

- This is for the 98th. The 92nd costs 78 rubles. The price went up by almost 10 rubles in a week. But many are ready to buy even at these prices, but there is still no gasoline. If you arrive after nine in the morning, the gas station is already empty. Two days ago, I stood in line at Rosneft for 12 and a half hours to fill up the unfortunate 15 liters,” says Sergei, a resident of Irkutsk. – At Kraisneft and OMNI gas stations they don’t sell to individuals at all - they work only with legal entities. There is no gasoline at Gazpromneft, only diesel.

Even late on Sunday evening, the queues at the gas stations where gasoline is sold to individuals stretched for four kilometers, says Sergei.

– The last line like this I saw today was from the “Baikalsky Microdistrict” stop near the “Tsvetnoy Park” shopping center to the gas station under the bridge. At the turn to the gas station it grew into several branches at once. One careless word, someone decided that the other had broken the line - and again there was a fight,” says Sergei. – And at the gas station near the Uzlovaya station, cars were parked on both sides at once - both from Traktovaya and from Oleg Koshevoy Street.

Irkutsk Mayor Ruslan Bolotov promised to install dry toilets at gas stations for people queuing for gasoline, noting that this should “reduce inconvenience.” In addition, he called on the heads of city organizations to transfer employees to remote work if possible due to fuel shortages.

On Saturday, June 27, according to Sibir.Realii's interlocutors, there was no gasoline at any gas station along the P-255 Siberia highway.

– Diesel is sold along the highway, but gasoline is not. The only gas station on the outskirts of Irkutsk, where he was, was lined up on both sides. It was not even clear which side to attach to it from,” says Svetlana . - We just canceled the trip. What if someone really urgently needs to go?

On Sunday, the governor of the Irkutsk region, Igor Kobzev, made a video message about the fuel shortage and admitted that the shortage of gasoline in the region has already exceeded 80%, “which raises serious concerns.”

“According to our data, of the 11 companies that previously bought fuel through the commodity exchange... Today this possibility is excluded. We need to compensate for this fuel shortage at the expense, at least we propose, at the expense of Rosneft. First of all, we need to conclude additional agreements so that the infrastructure of independent companies is used to sell fuel from additional supplies of Rosneft,” Kobzev said.

According to experts, the governor’s appeal is unlikely to quickly change the situation.

– The basic needs of the Far East and Siberia are now provided by only four relatively small oil refineries. In the Far East, these are the Komsomolsk Refinery with a capacity of 8 million tons per year and the Khabarovsk Refinery of NNK with a capacity of about 5 million tons. The missing volumes come from the Irkutsk region (Angarsk Petrochemical Company) and the Krasnoyarsk Territory (Achinsk Refinery), which at the same time have to supply Siberia, since the capacities of the Omsk Refinery are largely reoriented to supplies to the western regions of Russia, explains Alexey Semenov, a professor of economics at one of the Irkutsk universities. – The Far East itself cannot provide itself with fuel: the shortage of oil refining capacity reaches almost 50%. Therefore, approximately half of the fuel consumed in the Far Eastern Federal District is delivered by rail from Siberia. But now Siberian capacities are increasingly working in the west of the country.

The authorities of the Far Eastern regions do not deny the fuel shortage, however, according to local residents, its scale is significantly downplayed.

The government of the Khabarovsk Territory stated that interruptions in AI-92 and AI-95 gasoline affected only three municipalities - Vaninsky, Sovetsko-Gavansky and Ulchsky districts. Governor Dmitry Demeshin reported that about 40% of gas stations in the region remain without fuel, and the authorities have already concluded contracts for the supply of an additional 600 tons of fuel.

However, residents of the region describe the situation as much more dire.

“In Khabarovsk, at least half of the gas stations are empty,” says Khabarovsk resident Anatoly . – Solnechny and Verkhnebureinsky districts were left without fuel at all – neither gasoline nor diesel. A relative called from there in horror: the residents themselves were fighting off the forest fire in the village. Not only did no one dig fire trenches, but the equipment also didn’t arrive - they said there was nothing to do. For the first time I hear that not the intelligentsia, but ordinary workers began to curse the Supreme. Wherever you go - a canteen, a store, a hairdresser - everyone is talking about this. The TV no longer works.

In some regions, authorities did not officially introduce restrictions on fuel sales and stated that the situation remained under control. However, in practice, gasoline was also in short supply there. Thus, in the Tula region, Governor Dmitry Milyaev had not previously supported the proposal to limit the supply of fuel, but by the end of the week, residents reported hours-long queues at gas stations, a ban on the sale of gasoline in cans, and an unspoken limit of no more than 20 liters per person. “It’s impossible to refuel, there are no official restrictions. I went to many gas stations, spent all the gas and ended up leaving the car,” a Tula resident told the publication “Caution, News.”

Experts from The Washington Post confirm that “against the backdrop of Ukraine’s intensification of long-range strikes,” tensions are increasing in Russia. The publication's interlocutor, a Moscow businessman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that panic was beginning in the annexed Crimea: “Everyone wants to leave on foot or by bicycle, in any way possible. There will be problems with food.”

According to estimates by Novaya Gazeta Europe , after the latest attacks by Ukrainian drones in Russia, the work of 13 oil refineries was completely or partially stopped. The capacities that account for about 40% of oil refining in the country, up to 41% of gasoline production and up to 44% of diesel fuel were under attack.

On June 10, after a drone attack, the Kuibyshev Oil Refinery in Samara, owned by Rosneft, stopped refining; Russian authorities have not officially confirmed this. Attacks on oil infrastructure in southern Russia, including Tuapse and the Krasnodar region, have also continued in recent weeks. On the night of June 28, Ukrainian drones again attacked the Slavyansk oil refinery in the Krasnodar region; The Ukrainian side also announced a strike on an oil refinery in the Yaroslavl region.