Oil exports from postwar Russia to China and India doubled

According to data from the London-based real-time data-tracking company Vortexa, many countries that did not buy crude oil from Russia before the war, or in small quantities, increased their imports.

The Kremlin started selling crude oil at reduced prices, as a result of countries like the EU, US and UK starting to reduce their imports of fossil fuels from Russia due to Russia’s war in Ukraine, while the route of crude oil shipments changed.

Importing a peak of 35,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Russia last year, India’s import amount was negligible in January and February 2022. With Russian crude selling at a discount, India’s purchases from this country increased by March 2022 and reached the level of 68 thousand barrels per day.

CHEAP PRICE BECOMES ADVANTAGE FOR SUPPLY

India’s crude oil purchases from Russia increased continuously in the following months, reaching approximately 959 thousand barrels per day as of November 2022. Thus, India’s daily crude oil imports from Russia increased 14 times in the March period. to November.

According to data from TankerTrackers.com, India, which benefited from low prices even before the $60 price ceiling was applied to Russian oil, turns fewer buyers in the market to its advantage for supply at cheap prices after the EU embargo decision on December 5.

EXPORT TO TURKEY HAS EXPANDED 3 TIMES

According to Vortexa data, imports from China, which is currently the largest buyer of Russian crude, increased from 670,000 barrels per day in February 2022, when the war began, to 1.08 million barrels per day, increasing by approximately 1.6 times to November. 2022.

Russia’s crude exports to Turkey, on the other hand, tripled from 110,000 barrels in this period to 327,000 barrels last month.

Cuba, which had a very limited amount of crude purchases from Russia in the pre-war period, imported 48,000 barrels a day in October 2022 and 23,000 barrels a day last month.

The Gulf country, the United Arab Emirates, also joined countries that increased their purchases of cheap Russian oil after the war, importing 35,000 barrels a day in May 2022 from Russia, where it had not bought crude since June 2020.

Until last month, UAE crude oil imports from Russia were estimated at 28,000 barrels per day.

EMBARGO CAME INTO FORCE ON DECEMBER 5

The 6th package of sanctions, which included a ban on imports of oil transported by sea from Russia, adopted in June by the EU, which was trying to reduce its crude imports after the war launched by Russia in Ukraine, entered into force on December 5. with the end of the transition period.

EU countries exempted the Druzhba pipeline, which transports oil from Russia to Europe, from sanctions to reach an agreement on the sanctions package. The EU was doing two thirds of its oil imports from Russia by sea and one third by pipeline.

Before the war, the EU imported about 25 percent of the oil it consumed from Russia, but with the entry into force of the sanctions decision, almost 90 percent of the EU’s crude oil imports from Russia stopped. . Bulgaria was exempted from sanctions until the end of 2024 due to its economic problems.

That same day, the decision of the EU countries to apply a maximum price of 60 dollars per barrel to oil transported by sea from Russia came into force.

RUSSIAN OIL IMPORTS INCREASE INTO ITALY

Before the sanctions package came into force, Russian crude oil imports by sea from many countries were close to zero, while some countries continued to buy.

Italy’s crude oil purchases from Russia doubled from 163,000 barrels per day in February 2022 to 322,000 in November 2022. This figure had reached 443,000 barrels per day in June 2022.

The ISAB refinery, which operates Lukoil in the country, played an important role in making Italy one of the biggest buyers of Russian crude in the EU.

On the other hand, purchases from the Netherlands, which was one of the countries that imported the most crude from Russia into the EU before the war, continued despite the drop after the war. While Dutch crude oil imports from Russia were 595,000 barrels per day in February 2022, they dropped to an average of 152,000 barrels per day in November 2022.

THE PURCHASE OF OIL FROM THE DRUZBA PIPELINE CONTINUES

Referring to the Druzhba pipeline, which transports crude oil from Russia to the EU, Vortexa chief economist David Wech made the following assessment:
“There are currently 500,000 barrels of crude oil flowing from Russia to Germany and Poland through the Druzhba pipeline. This amount goes to Germany and Poland. Both countries had pledged to end these imports of seaborne crude, but of late there have been different signals from Poland. If the flow of this quantity is also stopped in the Druzhba pipeline, Russia will have to export another 500,000 barrels of oil by sea, which means it will find new buyers.”