The authorities are betting on several refineries returning to operation after unscheduled maintenance, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told Vesti.

According to the government official, the cabinet, together with oil companies and regional authorities, is monitoring the situation on a daily basis and manually redirecting petroleum product supplies to regions facing shortages. A number of measures have been launched, ranging from an export ban to permission to produce gasoline of lower environmental classes.

“We will do everything to stabilize the market,” he promised.

According to Novak, fuel is already being imported into Russia from abroad. However, imports have already encountered the first difficulties. A large batch of Indian AI-92 gasoline that arrived in Murmansk several days ago became stuck in tankers, as it could not be shipped to the domestic market, an Izvestia source said.

The reason was the price. The Indian fuel was initially offered at RUB 130,000 per tonne, then the price was reduced to RUB 110,000, but even this was almost one and a half times higher than the exchange index for AI-92 in European Russia, which stood at around RUB 73,000 as of August 17.

Buying gasoline at such a price for resale on the domestic market would have meant a guaranteed loss. As a result of negotiations, the parties managed to agree on acceptable terms.

According to RIA Novosti, the first batch of imported gasoline was sold on the Saint Petersburg Exchange on August 19. A total of 360 tonnes of AI-92, priced at RUB 105,000 per tonne, will be shipped to the buyer from the Kola station in Murmansk Region, according to exchange materials.