Russia to limit diesel exports after Ukrainian drones strike refineries
Photo: Ministry of Defense

The Russian government will soon extend the ban on gasoline exports until the end of 2025 for all market participants and introduce a ban on diesel exports for traders (producers will be able to continue exports), Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday.

"There is a solution. We will extend the ban on gasoline exports in the near future until the end of the year, and a ban on diesel exports for non-producers will also be introduced until the end of the year," Novak was quoted as saying by the TASS agency.

Since the beginning of August 2025, 16 of Russia's 38 refineries have been hit by Ukrainian drones, some of them several times. The strikes have disrupted refining capacity by more than 1 million barrels per day, according to the Energy Aspects research group, wrote earlier this week in the Financial Times.

Only in recent days, oil refining has stopped at the Novokuibyshevsk refinery near Samara,  Astrakhan refinery, one of the units of the Kirishinefteorgsintez refinery near St. Petersburg.

Novak acknowledged that there is a "small shortage of oil products on the market," but, according to him, it will be covered by accumulated reserves.