With a third of oil refineries shut down, Russia will face gasoline collapse – expert’s opinion
The relevant statement was made by Energy Industry Research Center Director Oleksandr Kharchenko in a commentary to Ukrinform.
“One should not underestimate the Muscovites. Just as we start rebuilding right away, they start rebuilding right away. It is a huge undertaking to really, directly and reliably knock out a factory. There’s always the possibility of reconnecting something, bypassing something,” Kharchenko told.
In his words, even damaged enterprises are able to operate for a while, albeit with lower quality and fewer production volumes. At the same time, the failure of a significant part of oil refining will be critical for the Russian economy.
“If they have 30% of oil refining facilities shut down, it will be a collapse. It will simply be a physical collapse of gasoline supply,” Kharchenko noted.
According to the expert, Russia has no close sources for the supply of petroleum products, and cannot obtain them either from the EU or the United States.
“The closest destinations from which they could theoretically import petroleum products are India and China. But, it is a very long and expensive path,” Kharchenko explained.
A reminder that, according to Financial Times, wholesale petrol prices in Russia hit record highs and the fuel was in short supply in several regions as a result of Ukrainian drone strikes on refineries.
