DUSHANBE, Aril 28, 2011, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan has not yet received an official notice from Russia on gasoline export suspension, a source at the Ministry of Energy and Industries (MoEI) told Asia-Plus Thursday afternoon, commenting on reports about possible suspension of Russia’s gasoline exports.
Russian media outlets report that Deputy Energy Minister Sergey Kudryashov announced on Thursday that Russia would stop export of gasoline starting from May 1 in order to stabilize the situation in domestic fuel market. According to the minister, the Energy Ministry agreed with major Russian oil companies that export of gasoline would be completely stopped and all sales would be directed to the domestic market. “We realized our (gasoline) stocks have been insufficient,” Kudryashov told the ministry”s meeting. He stressed that another wave of petrol shortage could hit in September because oil refineries will be stopped for planned repair works.
A gasoline shortage has started this week in Russia”s Altai republic and spread to 20 other Russian regions, including the country”s two hubs of Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Tuesday ordered to investigate the cause of fuel shortage after Federal Anti-trust Service (FAS)”s previous remarks saying the reason behind the current crisis could be a price fixing cartel agreement among Russian major oil companies.
According to local reports, prices for the most in-demand type gasoline has grown by 18.8 percent in April. Since the start of this year, Russia has exported about 1 million tons of gasoline, while in 2010 the export amounted to 3 million tons, the reports said.
“There ought not to prematurely worry about grave consequences that are unavoidable if Russia really stops gasoline exports,” said the MoEI source, “Tajikistan and Russia endorsed and signed a financial statement on fuel supplies for 2011 in mid-April. Besides, there is a government-to-government agreement between the two countries on fuel supplies.”
It is to be noted that Russia reportedly accounts for 92 percent of Tajikistan’s fuel imports. Tajikistan Minister of Economic Development and Trade Farrukh Hamraliyev noted on April 27 that it is more profitable for Tajikistan to import oil products from Russia. “Despite export duty imposed by Russia on light oil, import of oil products from this country is more profitable than from Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan or Ukraine,” the minister said. Hamraliyev added that negotiations with Russia over export tariffs for oil products were going on.
According to data from the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MEDT), current average price of one ton of Russian oil products imported into Tajikistan is US$885.00, while in 2010, it was US$691.00. Current average price of Turkmen fuels is US$915.00 per one ton.
We will recall that Russia that provides the bulk of Tajikistan’s fuel imports has raised gas tariffs for Tajikistan again. By Russian government’s decree the export duty on light oil for countries that are not members of the Customs Union rises from US$244.6 to US$283.9 beginning on April 1.
According to the Customs Service, Tajikistan has imported more than 141,000 tons of fuel for a total amount of U$125 million over the first three months of this year and Russia accounted for 80 percent of Tajikistan’s fuel imports over the report period. Gazpromneft-Tajikistan reportedly dominated Tajik fuel market over the report period, accounting for 35 percent of fuel deliveries in January-March 2011; the remainder has been delivered by domestic companies.
