Russia is close to ruling on a continuation of gasoline exports in July, extending a waiver on a partial ban on overseas fuel sales, industry sources told Reuters.

The country banned gasoline exports for six months from March 1, though exempted a Moscow-led economic union and some countries with which it has direct inter-governmental agreements on fuel supplies in place, such as Mongolia.

The ban was initially introduced to pre-empt fuel shortages and stem a rise in prices after a spate of Ukrainian drone attacks on refineries and technical outages. The restrictions were initially suspended last month until June 30.

The Russian government is also considering restricting exports of gasoline and diesel for re-sellers, one source said, leaving the rights for overseas supplies to refineries.

Currently, those re-sellers are paying a high export duty.

The Russian energy ministry did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.

Also favouring the case for exports to continue, Russian oil producer Lukoil restarted a key piece of equipment for oil processing at its NORSI refinery, Russia’s fourth-largest, after a drone attack in March, the industry sources said.

In 2023, Russia produced in total 43.9 million metric tons of gasoline and exported about 5.76 million tons, or around 13% of its production.

Source: Reuters reported by Reuters edited by Alexander Smith