Chains & DealsExhibit2 min · 492 words

Russian Fuel Retailer Trassa Shuts All 53 Stations After 30 Years

Trassa, a top Moscow-area fuel chain, shut all 53 stations after 30 years; Gazprombank Leasing repossessed the sites and 1,400 staff sit idle, while Karelia rations Rosneft fuel.

В России крупная сеть АЗС закрылась после 30 лет работы
В России крупная сеть АЗС закрылась после 30 лет работы — Falkenpost / pixabay

All 53 filling stations of the Trassa network in the Moscow region have stopped operations, and roughly 1,400 employees have been sent on forced downtime, after 30 years of continuous trading by one of the largest fuel retail chains in Moscow and the wider Moscow area.

The Moscow region's Ministry of Energy confirmed the figure to Interfax on the record: 53 stations in the region have halted work, and 40 of them are already sealed. Four more Trassa stations outside the Moscow region fall under the same repossession procedure.

What killed the network?

The crisis stems from the financial troubles of EuroTrans, the owner of the Trassa chain. Gazprombank Leasing, the legal owner of the filling station complexes, has begun repossessing the assets leased to EuroTrans — 53 stations in the Moscow region plus four elsewhere in Russia.

The collapse is total, not partial. The network's digital infrastructure has effectively gone offline: the official website is unavailable, the customer hotline does not respond, and the personal account function in the mobile application has stopped working. Customers can no longer top up their fuel cards (prepaid fleet cards widely used by commercial drivers in Russia).

What does this change for the operator? EuroTrans now faces bankruptcy, according to reports on the shutdown. Regional and federal authorities have not stood aside: the Moscow region government, together with the federal government, has already prepared several scenarios for the network's future. No final decision has been announced. No timeline for a sale or restart has been given.

Karelia imposes rationing at Rosneft stations

The Trassa collapse coincides with wider stress on Russia's fuel market. In the Republic of Karelia, Rosneft filling stations have introduced temporary limits on petrol and diesel sales under a regional government decision.

The per-visit caps for motorists:

  • Up to 30 litres of petrol at urban stations
  • Up to 50 litres of petrol at highway stations
  • 50 litres of diesel for passenger vehicles
  • Up to 200 litres for trucks at high-speed pumps

Canister sales (fuel sold in portable containers) are suspended temporarily.

Karelia's head, Artur Parfenchikov, framed the measures as a demand-management tool. He said the restrictions are necessary to prevent panic buying and to ensure an even distribution of fuel across the region. Karelian authorities are working together with Rosneft to stabilise supply and return the stations to their normal operating regime; neither side has published a target date.

Two stories, one market

The two developments point in the same direction. A major independent retailer in Russia's most densely motorised market has lost its leased asset base within days, while a federal oil major's regional network needs administrative rationing to keep pumps stocked. For fleet operators and fuel-card holders in the Moscow region, the immediate practical consequence is the loss of a network that operated for three decades; for Karelian drivers, it is litre caps at the pump until supply normalises.

Key findings

  1. All 53 Trassa stations in the Moscow region stopped operating; 40 are sealed, and 4 more outside the region face repossession.
  2. About 1,400 employees have been placed on forced downtime after 30 years of operation.
  3. Gazprombank Leasing has begun repossessing stations owned by it but leased to EuroTrans, which risks bankruptcy.
  4. Karelia capped fuel sales at Rosneft stations: 30 litres of petrol in cities, 50 on highways, 200 litres for trucks.
  5. Fuel card top-ups, the Trassa website, hotline and mobile app are all unavailable.

Source interfax.ru (Original)

Price tags

Share this article:

More from Ольга Никитина

Ольга Никитина

Show full bio

Корреспондент «Shelf Herald», освещает компании и сделки: Shelf Herald — двуязычное (русский/английский) независимое деловое СМИ.

12 articles

Adjacent departments

« Previous articleNext article »