Belarus sharply increases gasoline and diesel deliveries to Russia amid supply crunch

Compared with April, rail deliveries of motor gasoline from Belarusian refineries to Russia’s domestic market rose 11% in May to 57,000 tons, while diesel shipments increased 23% to 50,000 tons.

In addition, more than 5,000 tons of aviation fuel were shipped from Belarusian refineries to the Russian market last month.

Overall, in the first five months of 2026, compared with January through May 2025, rail shipments of gasoline from Belarusian refineries to the Russian market increased nearly 13-fold to 270,000 tons, while deliveries of Belarusian diesel tripled to 179,000 tons.

Belarus, which has two refineries with a combined processing capacity of 24 million tons per year, is ready to partially compensate for Russian refinery capacity lost to Ukrainian drone attacks, state news agency BelTA previously reported, citing Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko.

In the second half of last year, Belarus’ two refineries — in Navapolack and Mazyr — began processing tolling oil supplied from Russia. Fuel produced from Russian crude is intended both for the Russian market and for export to other countries.

As previously reported, oil refining in Russia has fallen to its lowest level in 16 years.

In May, Ukrainian drones attacked eight of Russia’s 10 largest oil refineries.

The decline in output at Russian refineries is putting pressure on the Russian government, which is trying to prevent a fuel crisis and a sharp rise in prices at gas stations, Bloomberg reported.

At the same time, fuel shortages are spreading across Russia. Various types of restrictions have appeared in at least 15 Russian regions, as well as in occupied Crimea and occupied parts of Luhansk Oblast.

On April 2, the Russian government reimposed a ban on gasoline exports by producers through the end of July.