In July, Ukrainian fuel companies stepped up supplies across the western border amid a shortage of offers in the southern direction. The Western Fuel and Energy Company (ZPEK), in particular, quickly increased imports from alternative sources. ZPEK co-owner Oleg Chykyda spoke about this in a comment to ZN.UA.
“The intensification of supplies at the western border was driven by a shortage of offers in the south. We managed to promptly increase imports from alternative sources, although these were expensive spot supplies,” Chykyda noted.
As the director of the A-95 Consulting Group, Serhiy Kuyun, writes, in July the Ukrainian fuel market faced several problems at once. Security risks led to a reduction in supplies by water transport, the cost of freight and insurance rose, and the shallowing of the Danube limited barge loading to 30-50% of their capacity.
Additional pressure on the market came from restrictions on other import routes. In particular, in August the Polish ORLEN cut quotas for Ukrainian companies by 20-30% for technical reasons.
At the same time, due to problems with maritime logistics, part of the cargo flow shifted to road transport, which increased domestic diesel consumption. Large industrial consumers also began buying fuel more actively, as a result of which wholesale prices at times exceeded retail ones.
Despite the difficult situation, Ukrainian importers managed to increase supplies. According to the A-95 Consulting Group, in July diesel imports amounted to 562 thousand tonnes, 5% more than in the same period last year. Petrol imports reached 196 thousand tonnes, the highest figure since August 2025.
At the end of July, the volumes of fuel supplied by road transport across the western border also increased significantly. This channel is more expensive compared with traditional routes, but it allowed the market to promptly compensate for the resource shortage on other routes.
According to Kuyun’s estimate, in the second half of August the situation with physical fuel volumes should stabilise, since importers have already increased resource contracting.
