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Russian regions are lifting limits on petrol sales as Ukraine's drone strikes on refineries slow under US pressure and damaged plants come back online. Free fuel sales resumed in 15 regions in October, including annexed Crimea and Sevastopol, where shortages had been worst, Izvestia reported on October 29. Limits remain in places: Tambov region still caps how much fuel one person can buy and bans filling jerry cans, and some districts of Leningrad region are still short of supply. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak put the petrol deficit at 5% in mid-October and described the domestic market as "tense but improving". Diesel is in surplus: Novak said Russia's diesel capacity is twice domestic demand, and some refineries have returned from repairs. The acute phase of the crisis, with queues and rationing that began in mid-summer, is passing, but pressure on the industry remains. Petrol is still short, imports are filling the gap at a loss, retail prices are set to rise and the government has cut data needed to judge how much refining capacity remains offline. Ukraine's attacks on refineries have slowed sharply since US President Donald Trump stepped up pressure on Kyiv to halt them. The Missile War Monitor's refinery damage ledger records 22 dated strikes on Russian refineries in August, 16 in September and six in October, with none found between October 16 and October 29. Dated Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries per month, January 2025-October 30, 2026. One strike is one refinery hit on one date; the counts are floors. Condensate and gas plants excluded; October includes an unconfirmed fire at Novokuibyshevsk on October 30. Source: Missile War Monitor refinery damage ledger. IntelliNews President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine stopped hitting refineries for three days after Trump declared an energy truce on October 11, while Russia kept striking Ukraine's grid. The strikes resumed with Ryazan on October 15, and a fire was reported at the Novokuibyshevsk refinery in the Samara region on the night of October 29-30, which has not been officially confirmed. Ukraine has also faced disruptions to US-supplied missile warnings and to Starlink's military service, which Kyiv sees as part of the pressure. Most Ukrainians want the strikes to continue: some 80% said Kyiv should keep hitting refineries even if the US ends or cuts its support, in a Kyiv International Institute of Sociology poll released on October 28. The ledger counts 27 refineries hit or claimed hit and 208 dated strikes since the campaign began. Plants reported halted or cut in October account for about 14.8mn tonnes a year of capacity, about 5% of Russia's 327mn t/y nameplate, but the figure rises to about 145.8mn t/y, or 45%, if earlier reported halts still hold at 12 plants including Moscow, Kirishi, Yaroslavl, Saratov, Syzran, Tuapse and Perm. Novak said in early September that about 10% of capacity was under repair. The range is wide because restarts are rarely announced, and Putin has made the picture harder to read. A decree of September 28 bars publication of refinery throughput and of exchange sales of petrol and diesel by the largest oil companies, including by the media. Ryazan's main AT-6 crude unit was halted after the October 15 strike, though three other units kept running, according to industry sources cited by Reuters. Tuapse on the Black Sea has had no reported restart since April. Rosneft officials have warned privately that the cost of repeated repairs cannot be sustained, Bloomberg reported on October 22. The government expects imports to make up 16%-18% of petrol supply in October-December, and selling imported fuel at the oil majors' stations loses RUB13 ($0.16)-RUB18 ($0.22) per litre even after state compensation, Kommersant reported. The Energy Ministry has proposed letting the majors raise retail prices by an extra RUB2.1 ($0.026) per litre, which would lift petrol prices at their stations by 11%, or RUB7.1 ($0.09) per litre, over the year. Only diesel export curbs are being eased. Moscow partially lifted its diesel export ban on October 10, the day after a Putin-Trump telephone call, and the US Treasury issued General Licence 135 allowing deals in Russian diesel until April 7, 2027. Cargoes are flowing again to Turkey and Brazil. The petrol export ban stays in force until January 31, 2027, and the government is considering an LPG export ban for non-producers until the end of the year. At the height of the fuel crisis, the AI-95 petrol price on the St Petersburg exchange rose 4.7% to RUB80,167 ($994) a tonne on August 31. "Rerouting and substitution have kept the wider economic damage contained," Bloomberg Economics said in a report on October 26, adding that supplies had improved although shortages persist. Putin put the cost of the strikes at 1% of GDP on October 1, more than a year after the campaign made Russia's refining sector a liability.

Each week, millions of Pakistanis who ride motorcycles or drive rickshaws send a text message and, once the system has checked their identity card, SIM registration and vehicle, receive a token redeemable at a participating petrol station. That small transaction now sits at the centre of a larger test. Islamabad has told the International Monetary Fund that the scheme will go, and within weeks it will become clear whether the government of Shehbaz Sharif can keep that promise while oil prices remain painful and the opposition remains noisy. The relief was always political. IntelliNews reported earlier in October that pump prices had risen by more than half since the Iran conflict erupted, and that the programme followed a threat by Jamaat-e-Islami to march on the capital unless fuel taxes came down. As a result, Sharif launched it on September 13, when a litre of petrol cost PKR375.82 ($1.35), offering eligible users PKR100 off each litre. The scheme did not stay narrow for long. Within days, the prime minister ordered that two- and three-wheelers registered from January 1, 2006 be admitted, pushing the cut-off five years further back from 2011, as ARY News reported. His office released a statement carrying a pledge that summed up the mood: “We will not leave the people alone in this difficult time.” By early October, more than 9mn people were drawing on it as Gulf News reported in Pakistan widens PKR100 fuel relief to 20-year-old bikes and rickshaws. The IMF saw things differently. Its mission, led by Iva Petrova, spent two weeks in Karachi and Islamabad between September 23 and October 7, and emerged with a staff-level agreement. According to Dawn, board approval would release roughly $1bn under the Extended Fund Facility and about $210mn under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility, lifting total drawings under both to some $5.7bn. Petrova said the token scheme “should be phased out promptly, given its high cost and broad targeting”. The local Express Tribune went further, reporting that Islamabad had signed up to ending it, even as officials maintained it would run for its full three months. The IMF wants any future help to be brief, aimed squarely at the poor and paid through existing welfare channels inside the 2026-27 budget, which is meant to deliver an underlying primary surplus of 2% of GDP. In rupee terms, the sums are not alarming. The programme was given PKR75bn for its three-month life, according to Dialogue Pakistan, and by the time the deal was struck, upwards of 10mn beneficiaries had claimed about PKR10bn. Back in April, regional media cited a finance ministry official who said the Fund had already capped fuel-related support at below PKR150bn. The worry in Washington is less about this quarter’s bill than about precedent: once an entitlement reaches millions of voters, withdrawing it becomes a political event in its own right. The revenue side thus adds an awkward twist. The Federal Board of Revenue beat its first-quarter target, as Business Recorder showed, collecting PKR3.0835 trillion ($11.13bn) provisionally against PKR3.053 trillion, even though the Finance Act 2026 scrapped the super tax and trimmed levies on salaries and property deals. Sales tax did the heavy lifting, while income tax came in PKR47bn below plan and stronger-than-forecast petroleum development levy receipts helped cover the gap. In effect, the state is collecting generously at the pump and handing part of it back through text messages. That circularity is hard to defend for long, particularly with a full-year collection goal of PKR15.264 trillion still ahead. Fuel is not the only pressure point. Circular debt in the gas sector has passed PKR3.6 trillion ($12.9bn), and a restructuring plan agreed with the IMF still awaits the prime minister’s decision. On supply too, QatarEnergy has told Pakistani and Bangladeshi buyers that cancelled LNG cargoes will continue through November, which leaves costlier spot purchases as the fallback. As such, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has a reasonable case to make. At a recent meeting in Bangkok he briefed IMF deputy managing director Nigel Clarke on plans for targeted relief, pointing to three consecutive primary surpluses and public debt that has fallen to 68% of GDP. The timetable now matters most. Before the tranche can be approved, Pakistan must amend the laws governing the National Telecommunication Corporation, the National Bank of Pakistan and Pakistan Railways, and the board has yet to schedule its vote. Counting from the September launch, the three-month allocation runs out in mid-December, around the time approval would plausibly land. If oil prices ease in the meantime, the tokens can expire quietly and both sides can claim success. If prices stay high, Sharif faces a choice between a renewal that would test the IMF’s patience and a withdrawal that would hand Jamaat-e-Islami a grievance. How he decides will show whether Pakistan’s recent fiscal improvement is a change of habit or a lull between crises.

Yes. At least since the federal government began keeping track. Highway diesel prices rose to $6.53 per gallon Sept. 21, a record-high based on federal data beginning in 1994. Some economists link...

Fuel shortages in Bali have caused significant disruption to both locals and tourists, with motorists queuing for hours at petrol stations following a mechanical failure involving a fuel tanker ship. The incident, which delayed the offloading of 22 million litres of diesel at Denpasar port, has led to widespread fuel shortages in tourist areas such as Denpasar and Badung. Governor I Wayan Koster has implemented measures including three days of remote work for government employees and school closures to alleviate the situation. Australian expats and tourists report difficulties in accessing transportation due to fuel scarcity, with many opting to walk long distances instead of waiting in queues. The situation has prompted warnings from energy experts about Australia's own fuel supply vulnerabilities. Head of energy research at MST Marquee, Mr Kavonic, noted that Australia is 'not a large exporter of fuel' and highlighted the need for 'sovereign capability' to achieve partial self-sufficiency. The Indonesian government has committed to round-the-clock fuel deliveries to restore supply, with Governor Koster expecting resolution within seven days. The crisis has been compounded by global tensions, including the sinking of two ships in the Strait of Hormuz, which has further strained global fuel markets. This incident serves as a stark reminder of how quickly fuel supply chains can deteriorate, particularly for nations like Australia that rely heavily on imports for their fuel needs. The Bali situation underscores the importance of developing domestic fuel production capabilities to prevent similar disruptions in the future.

Trump says Russia agreed to supply millions of tons of diesel to the U.S. after a call with Putin, days before a 500% tariff law takes effect.

Donald Trump announced on Truth Social a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to supply over 300,000 tons of diesel fuel to the U.S. market, promising further shipments totaling 4.8 million tons. However, energy experts have criticized the plan, noting that the initial shipment would only cover about 14-15 hours of U.S. diesel demand. According to the BBC, the U.S. consumes roughly 3.6 million barrels of diesel daily, equivalent to 491,000 metric tons. The 300,000 tons Trump mentioned equals approximately 2.2 million barrels, which is less than one day's consumption for transportation. Analysts also highlighted that even the full 4.8 million tons promised would cover only about 10 days of U.S. demand. Trump had previously considered an export ban on U.S. diesel but ruled it out on October 2, stating 'we’re not going to be doing the export ban.' The Treasury Department issued a temporary license to allow Russian diesel supply to the global market, despite Trump signing a Russia sanctions law a month earlier. Critics argue the move contradicts the sanctions policy, with NBC News' Garrett Haake noting that Congress had recently increased presidential authority to punish Russia economically, yet Trump is 'throwing them a lifeline.' The White House has not provided details on who will pay for the diesel, its availability timeline, or whether the November shipment will arrive before the November 3 midterm elections. The deal has been widely dismissed as insufficient to impact the current diesel price surge, which has seen prices reach $6.52 per gallon, averaging $6.23 nationwide. Oil analyst Andy Lipow noted that while the 3 million-ton portion could provide some relief, the initial shipments are 'quite small' compared to the global market. The announcement has been labeled a 'head scratcher' by experts due to the mismatch between the promised supply and actual U.S. consumption needs.

Two commercial vessels were hit within 24 hours — one off Qatar, the first attack in that area in six months, and one off Fujairah in the Gulf of Oman — as IRGC-affiliated outlets suggested Tehran had extended operations beyond the crucial strait.

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