YEREVAN, April 14 – Sputnik. The rise in global oil and petroleum product prices, influenced by the conflict in the Middle East, creates a backdrop for increasing prices of Russian gasoline and diesel exported to EAEU countries, including Armenia. This was stated in a comment by Sergey Tereshkin, the founder of the Open Oil Market business platform (a marketplace for buying and selling petroleum products and other raw materials), to Sputnik Armenia.
The increase in prices for Russian petroleum products is somewhat related to events in the Middle East, but the primary reason for this is different: Russian producers want to offset the payments they have made to the budget under the so-called damping mechanism over the past few months.
What is this mechanism?
This mechanism works as follows: if export prices for oil and petroleum products exceed domestic Russian prices, the government of the Russian Federation compensates the industry (price damping) to prevent excessive exports at the expense of domestic market needs. Conversely, if the situation is reversed (prices in Russia are higher than abroad), oil companies themselves make payments to the budget to ensure that the payment mechanism is mutual and not one-sided.In the early months of 2026 (before the onset of conflict in the Middle East), due to a new wave of Western sanctions against the Russian oil sector, Urals and other Russian oil brands were trading on global markets significantly cheaper than the global benchmark (Brent). The discount was so great that in January-February, the conditions for the Russian oil business in the domestic market were more favorable than those abroad. As a result, for the first time in 5 years, the Russian oil industry did not receive, but paid money under the damping mechanism to the budget. The size of these payments totaled about 30 billion rubles.
What does this have to do with Armenia?
"The necessity to 'recover' these losses will drive producers to increase gasoline and diesel prices for export to EAEU countries," noted Tereshkin.
Exports to the EAEU will remain the "window" through which oil producers will "accumulate" revenues, considering that until July 31, exports beyond the EAEU are prohibited (this will intensify competition in the Russian market and reduce profitability).Share of Russian petroleum products in the Armenian market
According to the customs service of the Ministry of Revenue of the Republic, in the first half of 2025 (annual data has not yet been published), the import of petroleum products from Russia to Armenia amounted to $106.3 million, or 46% of the total volume (detailed statistics by type of petroleum products are not provided). In the first half of 2024, Russia's share was approximately 75%, with absolute figures amounting to $160.1 million.Source: Sputnik Armenia
