BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 18. While Russia’s supply to the western markets fell, Asian buyers have gained significance among importers of Russian crude, with an increase in shipments of about 160,000 barrels per day to China and India combined, compared to those to Europe, Trend reports via the latest oil market review from the International Energy Agency (IEA).
According to the report, Russia’s oil exports dropped 230,000 barrels per day to 7.5 million barrels per day in September, with crude down 260,000, and products up by 30,000 barrels per day. At the same time, the revenues, while decreasing by $3.2 billion to $15.3 billion, were still higher than 2021 monthly average.
“Shipments to the EU countries fell by 390,000 barrels per day month-on-month to 2.6 million barrels per day, with its share down to just 35 percent in Russia’s total oil exports, compared to 50 percent at the start of the year. Exports to India were stable month-on-month at just under 1 million barrel per day, while loadings to China and Türkiye were down by 115,000 barrels per day and 50,000 barrels per day, respectively,” the IEA said.
Meanwhile, China has been the largest importer of Russian crude oil, ahead of the EU countries combined, since June this year.
“The EU crude oil imports from Russia fell to just 1.6 million barrels per day in September. While it has taken seven months for them to replace 800,000 barrels per day of Russian crude oil imports, they will need to switch an additional 1.3 million barrels per day of seaborne and pipeline volumes in the two months remaining until the EU ban on kicks in,” the report noted.
At the same time, the IEA expects Russia’s oil production to drop further in December, when the EU’s sanctions hit. However, imposing the embargo at end-year will keep annual average oil output at 10.9 million barrels per day in 2022, steady compared to 2021. Russia’s oil production in 2023 is expected to decrease by about 2 million barrels per day to average 9.5 million barrels per day.
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