The fuel market formed an excess of fuel. Therefore, in the near future motorists can be calm: fuel prices will remain stable. This will last until the surplus is sold abroad. In January, gasoline exports from Russia increased by more than 1.5 times and amounted to 246.9 thousand. tons, the Federal Customs Service.

Supplies increased due to the surplus. It was formed artificially. In November last year, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) advised oil companies to reduce gasoline exports because of high wholesale wholesale prices, Izvestia reports.. Antimonopolschiki did everything correctly. Their task is to contain the growth of fuel prices so that they do not overtake annual inflation. Last year, gasoline was clearly out of schedule: it went up by 7.3% with inflation of 2.5%. Because of this, at the end of the year exports fell sharply, resulting in the exchange value of fuel fell, and stocks rose. By the beginning of February 2018. the price of fuel fell from 45 to 40 thousand. rubles per ton. The reserves reached 1.67 million tons, which is about 50 thousand. t more than at the end of last year, according to the Central Dispatch Office of the fuel and energy complex. After the FAS restrictions were lifted, exports returned to normal levels. Representatives of leading oil companies did not specify the volumes sold in January for gasoline abroad. Their plans for future supplies they also did not disclose. Experts say that in the near future prices will hardly increase if demand in the domestic market does not grow. In this case, oil companies will continue to increase exports - for them it will remain more profitable. After all, companies somehow need to cover the cost of production and storage of gasoline, said executive director of the Russian Fuel Union Grigory Sergienko. At the moment on the foreign markets for a ton of gasoline offer up to 50 thousand. rubles. According to the expert, the price stability will last until the end of winter (that is, three more weeks). True, for this it is necessary that the FAS, by its recommendations, continue to restrain wholesale prices within the country. The antimonopoly service has already sent requests to oil companies about their planned exports in February-March and called for not forgetting the domestic market so as not to create a gasoline deficit, said the head of the FAS control department FAS Dmitry Makhonin. In this regard, the service does not consider it possible to increase the cost of gasoline for the end consumer in the near future. At the end of last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the authorities have the opportunity to reduce fuel prices. He explained that the cost of gasoline is tied to world oil prices, and they are now quite high. In addition, since January the government has raised fuel excises to raise funds for repair and construction of roads. "Of course, I would like to have hit the price in today's situation, and it seems like there is an opportunity. In some regions, this is reasonable, because the delivery is complex, the infrastructure is not developed.

But always for this the FAS should look, I will talk on this subject with the head of the department, "the head of state said at a meeting with the staff of the Rostselmash plant,. Senior researcher at the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences Ivan Kapitonov, commenting on the president's statement, said that it is necessary to overpay for gasoline to motorists in those regions where one single company is responsible for the delivery of fuel. There are signs of a monopoly, and the FAS in this situation should seek to bring other players to the region.