Russia increased gasoline exports by railway by a quarter year-on-year between January and May to around 2.51 million metric tons on an easing fuel embargo, two market sources said and Reuters calculations showed.

Russia imposed a ban on gasoline exports from March 2024 to offset excessive demand for petroleum products and to stabilise prices in the domestic market.

Exceptions were made for fuel supplied under inter-governmental agreements, including with members of the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union.

In November, the government lifted a fuel embargo for gasoline exports supplied by producers, but extended the restrictions for other exporters, such as independent traders and re-sellers.

In addition, several Russian refineries were hit last year by drone attacks, including major gasoline producer Lukoil’s LKOH NORSI oil refinery in Nizhny Novgorod, leading to a fall in fuel production and exports.

The other major gasoline producers in Russia are Gazprom Neft’s SIBN Omsk refinery and Rosneft’s ROSN Ryazan refinery.

According to Reuters calculations based on data from sources, the Baltic port of Ust-Luga was the main destination for Russian gasoline export supplies so far in 2025, which rose nearly 85% year-on-year between January and May to 0.72 million metric tons.

Gasoline exports from Russian refineries to the Baltic port of Vysotsk almost doubled year-on-year in the first five months of 2025 to around 150,000 tons, while fuel supplies to Mongolia fell 17% to 304,000 tons, data from market sources showed.

Since an EU embargo on imports of Russian oil products went into effect in February 2023, Russia has diverted its gasoline seaborne export supplies to countries in Africa and Asia, Turkey and Brazil.

In 2024, Russia produced in total around 43.1 million tons of gasoline and exported nearly 4.4 million tons, according to the market sources.
Source: Reuters