Tatneft has restricted fuel sales following the shutdown of the company’s largest oil refinery
The Russian company Tatneft has introduced restrictions on fuel sales at its petrol stations in several regions of the country from 14 June, according to TMT.
The company’s helpline has stated that a single vehicle is permitted to fill up with no more than 20 litres of petrol, 40 litres of diesel and up to 200 litres of fuel for heavy goods vehicles.
The restrictions came into force last Friday. They apply to Tatarstan, Udmurtia, Moscow, St Petersburg, Orenburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Voronezh, Samara and a number of other regions. In the Samara region, temporary limits have been introduced at 19 petrol stations belonging to one of the local chains.
The restrictions were introduced following a drone attack on 12 June, as a result of which the TANECO oil refinery in Nizhnekamsk completely ceased oil processing.
According to industry sources, following the attack and subsequent fires on the plant’s premises, both primary oil refining units were shut down. The AVT-6 unit has a capacity of 20,000 tonnes per day, accounting for 45 per cent of the plant’s total capacity. The capacity of the AVT 7 unit is approximately 23,000 tonnes per day.
TANECO is the largest oil refinery within the Tatneft group. The plant is equipped with hydrocracking, catalytic cracking and delayed coking units.
By the end of 2024, the plant had processed 17 million tonnes of crude oil. The plant produced 2.7 million tonnes of motor petrol, 8.5 million tonnes of diesel fuel and 1.3 million tonnes of petroleum coke.
A company spokesperson noted that the reasons for and duration of the restrictions on fuel sales have not yet been officially clarified.
Tatneft has around 2,000 petrol stations across five countries, of which around 800 are located in Russia.
According to estimates by Energy Intelligence analysts, by the end of the first week of June, oil refining volumes in Russia had fallen below 4 million barrels per day, reaching their lowest level in 21 years. According to their calculations, nearly a third of Russian refinery capacity, or 2.14 million barrels per day, is currently idle.
As of 10 June, at least 25 regions of Russia, excluding the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, were facing fuel shortages and supply disruptions.
