Russian govt mulls restrictions on diesel exports by traders - paper

MOSCOW. June 14 (Interfax) - The Russian government is discussing imposing a temporary ban on diesel fuel exports by "non-producers," meaning traders, tank farms and other fuel market participants, in order to prevent resellers from buying up and exporting fuel that is intended for the domestic market, business daily Vedomosti reported on Friday, citing sources.

A temporary ban on diesel exports for non-producers was discussed on June 7 at a meeting of the government commission for customs tariff and non-tariff regulation, one of the sources said.

The Energy Ministry said that a "mechanism has been worked out" with the participation of the Finance Ministry, Economic Development Ministry and Federal Customs Service that "makes it possible to prevent exports of diesel fuel by businesses that acquired the commodity in exchange trading," Vedomosti reported.

However, producers will still be able to export diesel fuel "without restrictions on shipping routes and types of transport," the ministry said.

The draft of the relevant regulation is now going through the interagency approval process. The ministry did not specify how the ban will be implemented or when it will go into effect.

Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said earlier that there is no fuel shortage in Russia, but measures are needed to prevent "grey" exports of oil products, including through other Eurasian Economic Union countries.

So-called "grey exports" involve exporting fuel that has been purchased on the exchange and on which the government has paid the damper subsidy. At present, companies that are not producers are subject to a higher duty on fuel exports in the amount of 50,000 rubles per tonne.