Russia extends gasoline export ban for six months, exempting producers

Moscow: Russia has extended its gasoline export ban, with exemptions for producers, for six months, the country's government said on Thursday.

Deputy Prime Minister "Alexander Novak supported the decision to ban gasoline exports for non-producing companies for the period from March 1 to August 31 this year in order to balance the market during the period of increased demand," the government said in a statement.

"Refineries and oil companies that own them will be allowed to export fuel."

At the moment, major oil companies are allowed to export gasoline but traders and resellers are banned from doing so, under a measure originally implemented almost a year ago.

The initial ban sought to address a sharp rise in wholesale fuel prices and the risk of a shortage on the domestic market.

It excludes supplies to the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union, a group of five former Soviet states, and to countries such as Mongolia with which Russia has intergovernmental agreements on fuel supplies.

The biggest importers of Russian gasoline include Nigeria, Libya, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates.