Russian regions urge remote work and reduced car use as nationwide fuel shortage intensifies

Jul 10, 2026

A severe nationwide fuel shortage has gripped Russia following a series of successful Ukrainian drone strikes on major oil refineries, including the Omsk and NORSI facilities. In response, Siberian regions like Tomsk and Novosibirsk are urging citizens to work from home and limit car use. Meanwhile, desperate drivers are flocking to convert their vehicles to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to bypass soaring prices and 12-hour queues at filling stations.

Russian fuel shortages

▪Novosibirsk Deputy Governor Konstantin Khalzov signed a decree recommending that businesses allow remote work and that residents limit private vehicle use.
▪A nationwide fuel shortage has spread across Russia, leaving only one of the country's 89 regions without energy restrictions as of July 10, 2026.
▪Officials in Russia's Tomsk region are urging government employees and citizens to work remotely, plan trips in detail, and hold online meetings to conserve fuel.
▪Drivers in some Russian regions are waiting up to 12 hours in line for fuel, and some areas are implementing an odd-even system for gasoline sales.

LPG vehicle conversion surge

▪LPG conversion companies in Moscow, including Garant-Gas and Medvedev GBO, report a surge in demand, with waiting lists extending until September 2026.
▪Russia is a global leader in LPG vehicle fuel use, consuming approximately 3.5 million metric tons of LPG as car fuel in 2024.
▪Russian drivers are increasingly converting their vehicles to run on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to avoid high gasoline prices and long queues.

Ukrainian refinery drone strikes

▪A large-scale Ukrainian drone attack in early July 2026 targeted energy facilities around Moscow, overwhelming air defenses and igniting fires at multiple oil sites.
▪Ukraine has launched more than two dozen drone strikes against Russian oil refineries since March 2026, targeting eight of the country's ten largest facilities.

Omsk refinery attack

▪Ukraine launched a long-range drone attack on the Omsk oil refinery, one of Russia's largest refineries with a design capacity of 22 million metric tons per year, on July 6, 2026.
▪The Omsk refinery strike caused significant damage, disrupting fuel supplies across neighboring Siberian regions including Tomsk and Novosibirsk.

NORSI refinery damage

▪The attack on the NORSI refinery damaged its CDU-6 primary refining unit, which processes 25,700 metric tons per day, forcing a suspension of crude processing.
▪Ukrainian drones struck Russia's fourth-largest oil refinery, NORSI, owned by Lukoil, for a second time on July 2, 2026.