Russia orders halt on petrol exports

Coming amid attacks on refineries, ban is intended to avert shortages and spiking prices on the domestic market.

Russia has passed a six-month ban on petrol exports from next week amid rising local demand.

The halt on petrol shipments abroad, which has been approved by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and is expected to start from March 1, was confirmed by state news agency Tass on Tuesday. A similar ban last year was introduced to avert shortages and spiking prices on the domestic market.

Russian outlet RBC said Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak had proposed limiting exports in a letter dated February 21 that noted that the domestic market will soon see increased seasonal demand for fuel.

The ban will not apply to the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), which include Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, in addition to Mongolia and Uzbekistan, as well as the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Russia also introduced a ban on fuel exports last September, as the winter season approached, bringing in higher domestic demand that led to increased prices and shortages.

That ban had also excluded Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. Almost all the restrictions were subsequently removed by November.