MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia is poised to introduce a tighter gasoline export ban, including for fuel producers, in the coming days to tackle rising prices, three industry sources familiar with the plans told Reuters on Thursday.
Currently, restrictions only exist for a small portion of gasoline exports by resellers, while oil companies are still allowed to sell the fuel abroad.
“It’s all been decided (with the ban). For now, it’s for August and September,” one of the sources said.
Another source said the ban could be announced on Monday.
The restrictions will exclude supplies to the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union, a group of five former Soviet states, and to countries such as Mongolia with which Russia has intergovernmental agreements on fuel supplies, the sources said.
The Russian government has applied temporary gasoline export bans several times over the past two years to fend off fuel shortages and combat high prices.
Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said earlier this month that the government would study the fuel market to understand if further restrictions were warranted.
His office declined a Reuters request for comment on Thursday.
Wholesale gasoline prices on the St Petersburg commodities exchange have been on the rise since the start of last week, with the price of the popular Ai-95 grade reaching an all-time high of 76,293 roubles ($962.69) per metric ton.
Russia produces more than 40 million metric tons of gasoline per year. Egypt and Turkey are the main importers of the Russian fuel.
According to the sources, Russia increased gasoline exports in the first five months of 2025 by around 25% year on year to some 2.51 million tons.
($1 = 79.2500 roubles)
(Reporting by Olesya Astakhova; Writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Joe Bavier)
