Russian Tractors to Run on Heating Oil Amid Fuel Crisis

Russia's agricultural sector faces a severe fuel crisis, prompting the Agriculture Ministry to recommend farmers use heating oil as a substitute for diesel in tractors. This unusual directive, detailed in a letter from ministry official Andrey Artikulov, asks regional authorities to assess farms' readiness to purchase heating oil, with the Energy Ministry reportedly confirming its production availability. Regions were required to respond by July 20.

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Russian tractors will run on heating oil. The village is returning to the times of the USSR.

However, industry insiders cited by "Kommersant" express strong doubts about the viability of this solution. They argue that heating oil, and even low-quality diesel (Euro-2 with high sulfur content), are only compatible with older, Soviet-era machinery. Modern imported tractors and combines, widely used by Russian agricultural companies, are far more sensitive to fuel quality and could suffer serious damage, leading to costly repairs.

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Russian tractors will run on heating oil. The village is returning to the times of the USSR.

Kristina Romanska, general director of the Lazarevskoye breeding farm, warned that using heating oil in modern machinery is strictly prohibited. She explained that increased sulfur content, from 0.2% to 1%, could halve an engine's lifespan and significantly exceed emission standards. While this option might be acceptable for small farms that can perform their own repairs on older equipment, it poses a substantial risk to the majority of the modern fleet.

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Such recommendations were made in a letter from Andrey Artikulov, director of the plant production department of the Russian Ministry of Agriculture.

The fuel shortage itself is a consequence of Ukraine's targeted attacks on Russian oil refineries, which have reduced Russia's oil processing capacity to its lowest level in years. The government banned diesel exports on July 8 to stabilize the domestic market, but Agriculture Minister Oksana Lut admitted on July 17 that farmers are still experiencing "difficulties" in obtaining fuel during the critical harvest period. Regional governors have requested increased fuel quotas, and some areas have arranged additional supplies, but the deficit continues to grow, compounded by a lack of support from traditional allies like India and Kazakhstan, leaving Russia reliant on insufficient supplies from Belarus and China.

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Soviet combine harvesters will cope with bad fuel.