The private oil corporation ExxonMobile has delivered 30,000 tons of diesel fuel by tanker to the port of Klaipeda in Lithuania, from where it will be transported by Ukrzaliznytsia to Ukraine to provide a reserve for the stable passage of the winter season, UZ said on Friday.
“Taking into account the available diesel fuel reserves, Ukrzaliznytsia has actually provided the necessary volume for the stable passage of the winter season,” UZ said in a statement.
It is noted that the contract for the supply of this batch of diesel fuel was signed on November 17, and five days later, the shipment began in the port of Klaipeda.
According to UZ, the price for diesel fuel including delivery, excise and customs clearance is quite favorable for the company and will be approximately UAH 52 thousand per ton or UAH 43-44 per liter.
“The final price will be calculated on Monday, five days after the notification of readiness for shipment according to Platts indices,” UZ said.
It is noted that thanks to the agreement with ExxonMobile, UZ saved UAH 2-3 per 1 liter of diesel fuel, as, according to the consulting agency, its cost in Ukraine in wholesale was UAH 46/l, and in retail – UAH 55/l.
According to Ukrzaliznytsia’s calculations, the company has already saved about UAH 1 billion on diesel by reducing consumption and through direct contracts with producers.
First deputy prime minister of economy of Ukraine Yulia Sviridenko predicts that the retail price of diesel fuel during the month will increase by 5 UAH/liter, gasoline – by 7-8 UAH/liter.
“We see and forecast together with gas station operators that by the end of July the increase will be 5 UAH for diesel and 7-8 UAH for gasoline,” she said on the air of the national marathon on Tuesday.
Sviridenko specified that arithmetically returning to the prewar level of excises on motor fuel and increase of VAT on it may lead to increase of price on diesel fuel up to 8 UAH/liter and petrol – up to 11 UAH/liter. At the same time the accumulated fuel reserves and lack of shortages should not lead to a sharp rise in prices.
“We see that there will not be a sharp rise in price. There are several factors – there is no shortage, there are stocks, the market in Europe is flooded with resources, so there will not be sharp jumps. Much, of course, depends on the price situation in the world, but today we do not expect sharp fluctuations,” she added.
As it was reported with reference to director of A-95 Sergii Kuyun, fuel prices will not rise from July 1, but will rise gradually. According to him, the tax burden on gasoline will increase by 11 UAH / l, 8 UAH / l – on diesel fuel, 3 UAH / l – on liquefied gas.
“Some part of it, at least 2-3 hryvnias per liter will be taken by the network, but diesel will add 100 per cent 5 hryvnias per liter, petrol – 7-8 hryvnias per liter. The price for gas will be the same 3 hryvnias/liter higher,” he predicted in his comments to Energoreforma a few days before the end of June.
Much will depend on the purchase price of petroleum products, most of which are imported. According to Kuyun, if world prices fail, there will be preconditions for them to compensate the increase of tax burden.
In the middle of March 2022, the Rada passed a law on additional tax incentives for business support during the war, aimed, in particular, at keeping fuel prices down. According to it, temporarily, for the period of martial law, a zero excise tax and VAT of 7% instead of 20% were set for fuel.
On September 21, 2022, the Rada passed the bill No. 7668-d on the return of excise taxes on motor fuel, setting them at EUR100 for gasoline and diesel (hereinafter 1,000 liters), EUR52 for liquefied gas, butane and isobutane, and EUR100 for alternative motor fuel and biodiesel.
VAT for all fuels remained at 7%. But according to this law, starting July 1, 2023, fuel taxes return to the prewar level: VAT – to 20%, excise tax on gasoline – to EUR213, diesel fuel – to EUR140 per 1000 liters.
Naftogaz Ukrainy plans to import 15,600 tonnes of petrol and diesel fuel into the country in July, head of the company Yuriy Vitrenko said.
“Naftogaz joined the task of eliminating the shortage that arose in the oil products market at the end of April. For the third month already, we have been increasing the volume of deliveries, on average 2.5 times monthly. In July, we plan to deliver 15,600 tonnes of gasoline and diesel,” he said on Facebook.
According to him, the company is ready to contract dozens of times more, but logistical restrictions prevent the delivery of oil products to the border of Ukraine from major ports in Europe, where there is the resource.
“Despite this, we have a positive trend. And if such rates of increasing imports of fuel continue, then in a few months Naftogaz may become the market leader,” Vitrenko said.
As reported, Ukraine in June 2022 will increase fuel imports by 1.6 times compared to May – up to 600,000 tonnes. In particular, 2/3 of them will be diesel fuel, 1/3 – gasoline and liquefied gas.
The average retail prices for gasoline and diesel fuel in Ukraine increased by 22-30% from May 16 to May 23, according to the data of the A-95 consulting group (Kyiv).
Thus, the average retail prices for A-92 gasoline increased by UAH 8.93/liter – up to UAH 48.78/liter, A-95 – by UAH 10.72/liter, up to UAH 50.84/liter, premium A-95 – by UAH 9.85/liter, up to UAH 51.51/liter.
In addition, retail prices for diesel fuel increased by UAH 13.24/liter, up to UAH 56.49/liter, for liquefied gas by UAH 4.14/liter, up to UAH 39.24/liter.
As reported, by resolution No. 594 of May 17, 2022, the Cabinet of Ministers suspended state regulation of fuel prices introduced a year ago in connection with quarantine, expecting that gasoline prices would not exceed UAH 52/liter, diesel fuel – UAH 58/liter.
The decision to cancel the maximum margin for gas stations was made so that market operators could saturate the Ukrainian oil market with the necessary resources in the face of their shortage after reorienting to supplies from the western border and Kremenchuk oil refinery bombed by Russia.
At the same time, the State Service on Food Safety and Consumer Protection announced the start of inspections of gas stations based on consumer complaints about inflated prices, refusal to accept payments with cards and the absence of settlement documents.
The shortage of fuel resulting from the destruction of the Kremenchuk Oil Refinery and a number of tank farms by the aggressor can be mitigated by the arrival of additional volumes on the market, First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko said on Wednesday at a meeting of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities.
“We have passed a number of government decisions that allow us to send the volumes available in the country to the market. This is 70,000 tonnes of gasoline and about 40,000 tonnes of diesel and it should reduce the deficit,” she said, adding that operators also contracted certain volumes in Europe.
Svyrydenko said that market operators now have 22,500 tonnes of gasoline and 41,400 tonnes of diesel fuel in their balances.
She also said that there is excess demand on the oil products market, which may be caused by panic among the population due to a temporary shortage of fuel.
The press service of the Office of the President said that the government is constantly cooperating with market operators to understand the needs and find ways to eliminate the shortage.
As reported, the shortage of fuel in Ukraine arose due to the cessation of its supplies from the traditional markets of Belarus and the Russian Federation and the blocking of sea supplies, massive attacks by the Russian aggressor on the market infrastructure, in particular, the destruction of the Kremenchuk oil refinery, as well as due to the government-imposed marginal prices for gasoline and diesel fuel.
Ukraine’s seaports, whose share in import deliveries of diesel fuel is rapidly growing amid the introduction of duties on Russian resources supplied by pipeline, will have to accept a record volume of diesel fuel in the amount of 150,000 tonnes in October, director of A-95 Consulting Group (Kyiv) Serhiy Kuyun said on Facebook.
According to him, to date, the record volume fixed in the autumn of 2015 was 130,000 tonnes.
Kuyun said that in September the share of seaports in the structure of import deliveries was 20%, whereas a year earlier it was 10%. The share of fuel supplies from Belarus is 53% (against 36% in September 2018), Russian deliveries by rail 6% (against 3%), Russian deliveries through Gomel 12% (against 9%), and Lithuania’s share some 9% (against 8%).
“After the tense first half of September, when the price of diesel fuel increased by more than 11% due to deficit, the market was balanced by the end of the month even with a slight surplus. It will come in handy in October, when supplies from Belarus are expected to fall due to the halt of Mozyr oil refinery,” the expert said.
The required amount of fuel, he said, will be covered by increasing supplies through seaports, oil refining by Ukrtatnafta, and railway deliveries from Russia.
Commenting on the market price situation in September, he noted that the cost of diesel fuel is not yet striving to decrease.
