A. Bychkov

I read the November Gas Infrastructure Europe statistics twice. Europe has entered winter with the lowest autumn storage peak in the history of the data, and Germany has fallen below 60% faster than ever before. Where did the hole come from? Why is Moscow talking about $2,500 when the market trades at roughly half that? And who actually benefits from a cold snap that has not yet arrived?

What the First Days of November Showed

Russia's oil refining sector is going through a difficult year. But the government has already rolled out a whole package of measures that are gradually bringing the situation back under control. While some refineries are still recovering from attacks, the authorities are keeping the market afloat through an export ban, flexible regulation of standards, and the launch of new projects capable of closing the resulting shortfall.

What's happening at the refineries — and how it's being handled

If you live in a major city and rely on a car, public transport, or simply depend on ambulance services and municipal utilities functioning properly, fuel security has stopped being an abstract infrastructure topic. It has become a question of everyday resilience — especially against the backdrop of what 2026 revealed: even developed European capitals can find themselves on the brink of a physical fuel shortage within a matter of weeks.

Why This Issue Has Become Urgent Right Now