Fuel shortages have returned to at least half a dozen Russian regions and filling stations are rationing petrol and diesel, after Ukrainian strikes hit at least eight major oil refineries in the past two weeks, Reuters reported on Monday, citing officials and Russian media. Ukraine sharply stepped up its attacks on Russian refineries after October 30, when US President Donald Trump's self-declared energy ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow failed to take hold.

Source: Reuters, via Global Banking & Finance Review

The clearest measures were announced in Karelia, in Russia's northwest. The region's head, Artur Parfenchikov, said on Sunday that fuel sale restrictions were being introduced at filling stations along highways, with purchases capped at 30 litres for gasoline and 50 litres for diesel, and sales of fuel in canisters suspended altogether. 'I am fully aware that these restrictions may cause inconvenience both to the republic's residents and to our business owners, whose work depends on logistics. However, under the current circumstances, these measures are necessary,' Parfenchikov said on Telegram, adding that the priority was to prevent panic buying and keep every petrol station operating. He said the temporary measures applied at stations controlled by Rosneft, Russia's largest oil producer; Rosneft did not immediately reply to a request for comment, Reuters said.

Source: Reuters, via Global Banking & Finance Review

Curbs spread from Karelia to Siberia

Authorities in Buryatia, in eastern Siberia, said Rosneft filling stations in the regional capital, Ulan-Ude, had imposed the same sales limits, and the neighbouring Zabaykalsky region also reported restrictions, Reuters said. Curbs on sales were also reported in the regions of Nizhny Novgorod, Arkhangelsk, Penza and Krasnoyarsk. Euronews, in its reporting carried by Daily Guardian Europe, said Rosneft announced the caps on Monday and listed Novosibirsk among the regions affected, with a limit of 30 litres of petrol per transaction in cities and 50 litres on motorways; in Krasnoyarsk Krai it reported separate limits of 30 litres of AI-95 petrol, 50 litres of AI-92 and 100 litres of diesel per customer, and said authorities in Leningrad region had recommended that stations cap sales at 30 litres of petrol and 50 litres of diesel.

Source: Euronews, via Daily Guardian Europe

The latest blow to refining came overnight on Sunday to Monday, when Ukrainian drones hit the Kirishi refinery in Leningrad region — Russia's second-largest — starting a fire, the region's governor, Alexander Drozdenko, said on Monday. Such attacks erode Russia's ability to produce gasoline and diesel, Reuters noted, raising the prospect of motorists once again queueing for hours at filling stations.

Source: Reuters, via Global Banking & Finance Review

The Kirishi strike itself, in which the governor said 113 drones were downed over the region, was reported by Awaaz Punjab on Monday. Read: Ukrainian drones strike Russia's second-largest oil refinery at Kirishi

A repeat of the summer crisis — with a US diesel deal now at stake

Russia introduced similar restrictions across many regions this summer, after an earlier wave of Ukrainian drone attacks on refineries coincided with peak seasonal demand; those shortages prompted authorities to reintroduce restrictions on gasoline exports, and in July they also restricted overseas sales of diesel fuel, Reuters said. This time the shortages also complicate a deal between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump on Russian diesel exports to world markets and the United States: Reuters reported on November 5 that Ukraine's renewed refinery attacks add to Moscow's difficulty in addressing domestic fuel shortages while it ships diesel abroad under the export deal, that a ban on diesel exports was lifted in part for the arrangement, and that Russia's gasoline export ban — in force since April — runs through the end of 2026.

Source: Reuters, via SRN News