The volume of oil pumping through the Transneft system has decreased in Russia

The drop in refining profitability forced oil companies to reduce the loading of refineries, which led to a drop in the pumping of raw materials inside Russia through the Transneft system, a source in the industry told Izvestia. At the same time, according to him, lower oil prices have allowed us to increase export supplies. The impact of this situation on the domestic market of petroleum products will be discussed by market participants at a government meeting on May 14.

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"Due to the fall in oil prices, the profitability of the sale of petroleum products in Russia for vertically integrated companies is negative. Therefore, companies prefer to reduce the workload of their plants, which leads to a decrease in oil pumping through the Transneft system. At the same time, considering that today Russian oil is trading below the "ceiling" of prices set by Western sanctions, oil exports are growing. According to our data, it increased by 12-14% in April alone," said a source in one of the oil companies.

According to him, the Cabinet of Ministers will hold a meeting to discuss the current situation and prevent an imbalance and shortage of fuel in the market.

The question of the reasons for the decrease in oil pumping through the Transneft system is indeed on the agenda of the meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister. Izvestia got acquainted with the materials for the meeting. However, it does not indicate how much oil pumping has decreased.

The government's agenda includes a discussion of the situation on the oil products market, margin issues, the tax burden due to the introduction of increased excise taxes, proposals to prioritize the supply of petroleum products by rail to the domestic market, as well as the operation of a mechanism to ban the export of petroleum products for non—producers.

Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:

They did not finish pumping: the volume of oil transportation decreased in Russia