Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak instructed the Federal Antimonopoly Service on 15 July to study cutting the mandatory diesel exchange-sale quota to 10%, Vedomosti reported1. Russian refiners are required to offer a set share of their diesel output through the domestic commodity exchange rather than selling it all under private contract, a rule intended to produce a visible reference price and keep supply available to independent buyers.
Lowering that share would leave refiners free to place more volume through direct contracts. The instruction is a request for analysis rather than a decision, and the Antimonopoly Service has not reported back.
It follows within a week of Novak's own announcement of Russia's first producer-binding diesel export ban. Both measures reach for the same lever from opposite ends: one restricts where fuel may go, the other loosens how it must be traded at home. Moscow is managing domestic fuel distribution through administrative instruments in quick succession, which is a sign of how closely the balance is being watched.
