Traces of fuel: authorities want to automate fuel accounting at gas stations
The authorities intend to create a single database on fuel availability at gas stations. The Ministry of Energy is developing a mechanism for digitizing information, which they are currently collecting manually. To automate the process, the possibility is being discussed of legally obliging gas station owners and other industry participants to transmit information on fuel sales to the Central Dispatching Department of the Fuel and Energy Complex, subordinate to the Ministry. Earlier, experts suggested launching a similar open registry, but then it was about a resource available to all drivers. Whether the new system will help to quickly monitor the fuel situation in the country is discussed in the Izvestia article.
What initiative is the regulator developing?
The authorities intend to legally oblige gas stations and other industry participants to provide data on the availability and sale of fuel. The Ministry of Energy is developing such a data digitization system, Anton Rubtsov, director of the Ministry's Oil and Gas Complex Department, said during the Russian Energy Week. Now the agency receives information about shipments and sales at gas stations and oil depots manually, he added.
Data from the regions is used to make operational decisions at meetings on the situation on the fuel market under the leadership of Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak. The Ministry of Energy is discussing the possibility of automating the collection of information on the basis of the Central Dispatching Department (CDU) of the Fuel and Energy Complex, subordinate to the Ministry. Izvestia sent a request to the agency.
According to Evgeny Arkusha, president of the Russian Fuel Union (RTS), today all members of the union provide information on the availability of fuel on a voluntary basis under special agreements with regional authorities. These agreements provide for the priority provision of fuel to the gas stations that provide the data. However, due to the shortage of gasoline, this condition is not fulfilled, he noted.
Dmitry Gusev, Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Reliable Partner Association, considers the initiative of the Ministry of Energy to create a digital database on fuel availability at gas stations necessary. Currently, information may be delayed, which is why regulators and the government risk making decisions based on incomplete or outdated information. In addition, the new system will strengthen control over business activities and tax payments, he explained.
The automated system will help the authorities to make operational decisions based on big data, says Petr Shcherbachenko, associate professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation. Its necessity is also determined by the market structure: independent gas stations account for more than 60% of the total number of gas stations in Russia, but provide only 30-40% of fuel sales. At the same time, such stations often operate in regions where there are no networks of vertically integrated oil companies (VICS). Without mandatory automated reporting, regulators do not get a complete picture of these gas stations, the expert explained.
In his opinion, the digital database will be useful even after the end of the fuel crisis. Under stable conditions, it will allow you to monitor fuel balances, identify local disruptions, and plan supplies to remote regions and strategic facilities. Statistical data is necessary for day-to-day planning and improving the accuracy of forecasts, he concluded.
How the system should be organized
According to Anton Rubtsov, the Ministry of Energy is studying the experience of individual countries and companies in installing sensors to track fuel shipments. As Dmitry Gusev explained, a similar control system is used, for example, in Kazakhstan, as well as in European countries. There, sensors monitor the volume of fuel when it is pumped both at gas stations and oil depots, as well as at refineries.
Russian vertically integrated oil companies already have such tracking systems, but they are used for internal analysis, said Igor Yushkov, a leading analyst at the National Energy Security Fund.
As Izvestia wrote, industry experts had previously come up with the idea of creating an official open resource with information about fuel availability and queues at gas stations. Such a measure would solve the problem of outdated or unreliable information, which is often displayed by fuel geocards of private companies. However, then we were talking about a service for drivers that would help them find fuel in conditions of shortage. Now, the creation of an internal state system that is not intended for wide access is being discussed.
According to Dmitry Gusev, an open database would be useful for the industry, allowing companies to track fuel shipments throughout Russia. At the same time, such a system will require reliable protection against cyber attacks and data leaks, said Petr Shcherbachenko.
The creation of an automatic fuel tracking system will not take much time, Igor Yushkov believes. According to him, the initiative will help both the government and regional authorities to make prompt decisions and will not create serious difficulties for most companies that still transmit such information.
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