Russia extends its gasoline export ban to year-end and will lift the diesel export ban

Alexander Novak, Russia's Deputy Prime Minister, told reporters in the Siberian city of Omsk on Saturday, 25 July 2026, that Russia's curb on gasoline exports will be extended through the end of the year. The Russian government has been struggling for months with fuel shortages in its domestic market.

Novak also said the diesel export ban will be lifted in due course so that refineries do not face a glut and have to cut processing volumes. Wholesale gasoline prices in Russia have jumped in recent months, driven mainly by Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries and shutdowns at several large complexes.

Russia is one of the world's largest exporters of refined products, and keeping its gasoline export route closed, at the same time as disruption in the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea, tightens the global product balance further. That matters for Iran, which is itself revisiting gasoline consumption patterns and pricing, both for the regional product market and for oil revenue.