Russia has decided to adjust the mechanism for stabilizing gasoline prices. The way to improve the economy of oil refineries was proposed by the head of Gazprom Neft, Alexander Dyukov, RBC reports.
According to him, it is necessary to adjust the annual growth of the wholesale price of fuel, which is included in the formula of the damper mechanism. It was implemented in 2018. The bottom line is that prices for consumers at gas stations remain stable regardless of fluctuations in oil prices. According to the rules of the mechanism, when oil prices rise, companies receive a subsidy from the budget to curb the retail price of fuel in the domestic market.
“We are talking about indexing the damper, but not by 5 percent a year, as it is now. If retail prices grow by 1.5-2 percent, then indexing should be carried out in the same amount,” Dyukov said.
Earlier in January, it became known that the volume of utilization of Russian oil refineries (refineries) in 2020 fell to a minimum in 10 years. In many respects, fuel consumption has decreased due to restrictions introduced against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic. Left without orders, many factories were forced to go for lengthy repairs.
As for the gasoline reserves, they turned out to be the minimum in six years. They decreased by 27 percent – to 1.2 million tons, follows from the data of the Central Dispatch Office of the Fuel and Energy Complex (CDU TEK). The Ministry of Energy recommended to oil companies by May of this year to increase reserves at refineries by one third – up to 1.8 million tons – to maintain a stable situation with fuel supply.