MOSCOW, March 29. /TASS/. Russian oil companies managed to increase gasoline production after a series of emergencies at Russian oil refineries thanks to an increase in fuel production at other refineries, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told reporters on Friday.

"Our companies have already boosted existing capacity and utilization, allowing us to supply additional gasoline and diesel fuel to the stock exchange. Plants are often not fully loaded, and their capacity is governed by market needs. Nonetheless, their loading has recently grown," he said.

According to Deputy Prime Minister, a lot of work has been done on the issue of logistics together with the Ministry of Transport and Russian Railways.

"The most basic issue for boosting load is to increase the volume of oil products shipped from industries and delivered to consumers, both domestically and internationally. The factories operate constantly and cannot stop," he noted.

According to the Russian State Statistics Service (Rosstat), the volume of gasoline production in Russia from March 18 to March 24, 2024 decreased by 7.4% compared to the previous week and reached 754,600 tons. Diesel output last week increased by 0.6% to 1.648 mln tons.

On the morning of March 12, Ukrainian drones attacked the Kstovo oil refinery in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region. No one was injured and the same morning the open fire was extinguished. On March 13, UAVs attacked the Ryazan oil refinery, starting a fire that was also soon extinguished.