Russia Gasoline Shortage Starts to Spill Into Central Asia
Russia’s gasoline-supply crunch is starting to ripple into Central Asia, where some countries lack sufficient domestic fuel production and have long relied on Russian imports.
Kyrgyzstan, a landlocked nation, said this week that it had appealed to regional partners, including Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, to help ensure energy security and maintain a stable supply of petroleum products to the domestic market, according to a statement from the Energy Ministry.
Uzbekistan, its western neighbor, has seen a sharp increase in gasoline prices, while Kazakhstan, the region’s biggest economy, is tightening border controls to curb illegal fuel exports.
The disruptions highlight the extent to which Central Asian economies remain dependent on Russia for fuel supplies, even as China has emerged as the area’s leading investor in recent years.
Russia is facing gasoline shortages as refinery outages, caused by Ukrainian drone attacks, have crimped fuel supplies. As of the end of June, about 90% of Russia’s regions had reported fuel rationing or some form of supply disruption, according to statements from local authorities and media reports.
Russia banned gasoline exports from April 1, excluding shipments under intergovernmental agreements, which include some Central Asian nations.
Still, in Uzbekistan, the price of AI-92, a widely used gasoline grade, has climbed 11.8% since the beginning of June to 13.9 million soums ($1,163) a ton on the commodity exchange, local media outlet Spot.uz reported Wednesday, citing exchange data. Daily gasoline supply on the exchange fell by about 50% on June 1 compared with the prior week.
Kyrgyzstan, which imports most of the gasoline it consumes from Russia, currently has sufficient petroleum-product reserves, and its request for additional fuel volumes is a precautionary measure, the Energy Ministry said. The government has capped the prices for consumers.
Kazakhstan, the region’s largest oil producer, earlier banned rail exports of certain petroleum products and light distillates and imposed new border restrictions, allowing vehicles to cross only once a day. On June 20, Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov ordered officials to take all necessary measures to prevent fuel shortages, including by tightening border controls.
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