India, Turkey and Singapore Named as Sources That Could Cover Russia's Gasoline Shortfall
Independent energy expert Kirill Rodionov says gasoline volumes missing from the Russian market could be covered by imports from India, Turkey and Singapore, with India holding the largest export potential. Belarus remains the main supplier, shipping 610,000 tonnes of gasoline over the summer, about 6 percent of Russian demand.
Missing volumes of gasoline on the Russian market could be covered by supplies from three countries — India, Turkey and Singapore. The proposal was put forward by independent energy expert Kirill Rodionov, quoted by Izvestia, in comments reported by Lenta.ru on 17 September amid a domestic fuel shortage.
India holds the largest export potential of the three, according to Rodionov, because the country has built up a substantial surplus of gasoline production. That surplus is the practical difference between a theoretical supplier and one able to move product quickly. Lenta.ru noted that the arrival of the first cargo of Indian fuel in Russia had already been reported earlier, which makes the route more than a proposal on paper. Turkey and Singapore were named alongside India, without volume estimates attached to either.
Who could ship, and how much
Beyond the three principal candidates, Rodionov pointed to two smaller sources. Azerbaijan could organise deliveries, but only in modest volumes that would cover a small share of demand on the Russian market. Kazakhstan is described as a more promising direction: the country could supply around 70 percent of the gasoline and diesel produced at the Kondensat refinery. Even so, annual volumes from that source would not exceed 140,000 tonnes — roughly equivalent to a single day of fuel consumption in Russia, according to the expert's own comparison.
- India — the largest export potential of the countries named, on the back of a gasoline production surplus; a first cargo has already been delivered.
- Turkey and Singapore — named as able to help cover the shortfall, with no volume figures given.
- Kazakhstan — up to 140,000 tonnes a year from the Kondensat refinery, around 70 percent of its gasoline and diesel output.
- Azerbaijan — small volumes only, covering a minor part of demand.
- Belarus — the current main supplier, at 610,000 tonnes of gasoline over the summer.
Belarus carries the existing flow
Belarus remains the main supplier of imported fuel to Russia. Over the summer, gasoline deliveries from Belarus rose more than threefold compared with the spring, reaching 610,000 tonnes, while diesel shipments more than doubled to 388,000 tonnes. Those gasoline volumes covered around 6 percent of Russian demand — a figure that sets the scale any additional supplier would have to match to make a visible difference in the domestic balance.
What the timeline depends on
Igor Ananskikh, first deputy chairman of the State Duma energy committee, has linked the stabilisation of the gasoline situation to two factors: purchases of oil products from other countries and the return of part of Russia's refining capacity after summer maintenance. Refinery repair schedules therefore sit alongside import logistics in determining when balance returns to the market.
What it means for the market
For traders and importers, the binding constraint is less the global availability of gasoline than freight routes, cargo economics and the durability of each channel. India's surplus can be redirected quickly, but volumes depend on refining margins and on competing demand in other destinations. The volumes attributed to Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are small enough to be treated as marginal balancing flows rather than a structural answer. On the numbers cited by Lenta.ru, only a combination of sustained imports and restored domestic refining output changes the supply picture materially.