Russian authorities are rushing to reassure the public that the country's fuel shortages are not deepening, as refineries knocked out by Ukrainian drone strikes begin returning to service.

Russia has faced a gasoline and diesel crunch since spring, when Ukraine intensified its drone attacks on Russian refineries, aiming to cripple fuel supply both to the front lines and to the domestic Russian market. The strikes on refineries — including targets deep inside Russian territory, more than 1,000 miles from the border with Ukraine — have become a nearly daily occurrence.

Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, who is in charge of energy issues including Russia's OPEC+ talks and who previously served as Russia's energy minister, sought to alleviate concerns on Monday. Some oil refineries in Russia have resumed operations after repairs, which could soon raise supply on the domestic market, Novak told reporters, as carried by Russian news agency Interfax.

"The current situation is constantly changing. Several refineries are already back in operation, therefore, we're expecting an increase in amounts of supplier taking into account logistics," the official was quoted as saying.

"The situation is changing every day. We're constantly monitoring it and are making decisions at our headquarters. We're gathering the federal headquarters with the regions and all of our companies twice a week," Novak said.

The reassurance effort comes amid a crisis that has seen fuel rationing in many regions, gas stations in big cities running out of fuel, and long queues at many gas stations. Amid peak demand season, Russia has been suffering from gasoline and diesel shortages for over three months, as Ukraine's drone campaign against Russian refineries forced many large processing sites offline in the spring and summer.

With one refinery or another constantly out of service due to the Ukrainian attacks, Russia has turned to South Korea and India for fuel imports — a role reversal for one of the world's largest oil and fuel exporters, which has periodically curbed fuel exports in recent years to stabilize its domestic market.

Russia's diesel and gasoil exports have crashed so far this month to the lowest in many years, as Moscow extended restrictions on diesel exports amid the fuel crisis. Diesel and gasoil are middle distillates — the fuel category that powers trucking, agriculture, industry and heating — and Russia has historically ranked among the world's largest diesel suppliers. The lack of Russian diesel adds to Middle East supply disruptions to tighten the global middle distillate market.

With drone strikes still a near-daily occurrence, the open question is whether the repaired refineries can stay online and how quickly their output reaches the regions now facing rationing and fuel queues. The duration of Moscow's export restrictions — extended this month amid the crisis — will help determine how much Russian diesel returns to global markets.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com