Nezavisimaya Gazeta: “No whiff of kerosene”
The Russian fuel market is in jitters. A fuel shortage is now threatening not only motorists, but also air carriers. On Friday, the Federal Agency for Air Transport (Rosaviatsia) sounded the alarm: Moscow's airports, it said, are on the cusp of cancelling flights due to the lack of jet fuel. Vladimir Putin is prepared to allocate jet fuel from state reserves, his office said. A year ago the anti-monopoly service accused the oil industry of creating an artificial shortage as an excuse to pump prices up.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will sign a resolution on allocating fuel from state reserves to meet the needs of Moscow's airports right away if needed, said his press secretary Dmitry Peskov. "A government decree to allocate reserve fuel will be signed immediately, if necessary," Peskov said. He added that the government is tracking the situation but is not planning to act just yet. "The matter needs looking into to see what the problem is and what's behind it," Peskov explained.
Earlier, Rosaviatsia reported that it would request the Federal Agency for State Reserves (Rosrezerv) to supply an additional 180,000 tonnes of fuel to Moscow's airports. Rosaviatsia will also ask the oil companies to increase deliveries. The Energy Ministry in turn is considering increasing minimum fuel inventories at the airports to seven or ten days instead of the current three.
In the last days of August, Moscow airports reported a drop in jet fuel inventory. Rosaviatsia was told by Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo refuellers that their inventories were running low. The agency said a similar situation could occur at Koltsovo Airport in Yekaterinburg. Koltsovo needs 14,000 tonnes of jet fuel in September, while it has contracted for only 6,000 tonnes. An airport like Domodedovo requires about 40,000 tonnes of fuel a month.
The reasons cited for the shortage vary: the oil industry blames the railways, while Rosaviatsia blames an unusual growth in air traffic and a drop in oil production in September. Actually, September always sees a marked fall in air carriage due to a drop in tourist traffic. "The volume of tourist air travel in September usually falls by about 15%," says Maya Lomidze, executive director of the Association of Tourist Operators of Russia. In any case, it is strange to quote September business figures – the month is only beginning, while signs of the shortage appeared as early as August.
Other reasons given include stocking up for winter and even making fuel purchases for the Defence Ministry. The ministry, however, has not indicated it is buying more. Rather it is buying less. "Since the autumn of 2010, when we made plans for the current year, refined products prices have dramatically risen: diesel and aviation fuel by 50% and petrol by 30%. But despite this, the 2011 government contracts for fuel and lubricants will be met in full, as were those in previous years," Deputy Defence Minister Dmitry Bulgakov pledged early in August. He added that the ministry is offsetting higher costs with improved fuel consumption measures.
In the meantime, the pipeline monopoly Transneft has announced it is prepared to help with the shortages at Moscow's airports by boosting pump rates, according to company vice-president, Mikhail Barkov. "Our delivery plans are on schedule. Moreover, we started pumping more oil early in the month. The railways are to blame for shortages at Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo. We are doing something about it. It will all be settled within the next few hours as we boost pumping volume," Barkov said.
Sheremetyevo says it has enough fuel for three days: deliveries are continuing but intermittently. Domodedovo says "it is operating normally, that it has a three-day supply of fuel and has asked its suppliers to stick to the agreed upon delivery schedule."
If the fuel shortage becomes worse, the government will again have to step in, as was the case early in 2011. On February 9, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin instructed the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) to launch a probe into why fuel prices shot up. FAS head Igor Artemyev replied that his agency was preparing to file claims against the oil companies. "In the fourth quarter of 2010, they created an artificial demand for jet and diesel fuel, which led to price hikes," Artemyev noted.
Mikhail Sergeyev
