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Ukrainian Refinery Strikes Surge Russian Jet Fuel Prices 41%, Forcing Airport Rationing
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Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil refineries have driven wholesale jet fuel prices to record highs and forced airports across several Russian regions to ration aircraft refueling, The Moscow Times reported on June 15.
A wave of Ukrainian drone raids hit 16 Russian refineries in May alone, and wholesale aviation kerosene has since climbed to its highest level on record.
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The national over-the-counter price index for jet fuel has surged 41% since the start of the year, with most of that gain—roughly 39% —concentrated in a single month from mid-May.
Trading has all but collapsed. Daily exchange volumes that had ranged from 2,000 to 4,000 tons earlier in the year dwindled to nothing, with the last recorded sale on May 13. The outlet described the market as facing "a practically complete absence of supply."
Late in May, airlines ran into fuel shortages at airports in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Ufa and several other cities, prompting an emergency session at the Energy Ministry and a government ban on aviation fuel exports. The relief proved brief.
On June 12, airports in Makhachkala, Mineralnye Vody, Krasnodar, Astrakhan and Nizhny Novgorod issued notices to pilots restricting refueling.
Russia produces around 10 million tons of jet kerosene a year and has been exporting roughly 15% of it, about 1.5 million tons, before the export ban. Unlike diesel, which the country turns out in surplus, aviation fuel leaves little spare capacity.
The price spike is the cumulative result of a sustained Ukrainian campaign against Russia's refining base. Since 2022, Ukrainian forces have carried out at least 158 strikes on Russian oil refineries, hitting 24 of the country's 33 largest plants and pushing national refining volumes to their lowest level since 2009. The damage left Russia's oil sector with more than $13 billion in combined losses last year.
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