Fuel deficit in Ukraine could be mitigated - first deputy PM

KYIV. May 5 (Interfax-Ukraine) - A fuel deficit and the fallout from incapacitation of the Kremenchuh oil refinery and a number of oil depots could be mitigated with the supply of additional amounts of fuel to the market, Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development and Trade Yulia Svyrydenko said at a meeting of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities.

According to the press service of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, the government is cooperating with market operators to assess the demand and to find ways of dealing with the deficit.

Market operators currently have 22,500 tonnes of gasoline and 41,400 tonnes of diesel fuel in possession, Svyrydenko said.

"We have made a number of government decisions that allow us to send the available amounts - 70,000 tonnes of gasoline and about 40,000 tonnes of diesel - to the market. That will cut the deficit," Svyrydenko said, adding that operators had contracted supplies from Europe.

There is an excessive demand in the petroleum product market, which could be triggered by panic over the temporary fuel deficit, Svyrydenko said.