BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 20. Sanctions hitting exports demand but also weighing heavily on domestic demand have led to Russian refinery runs falling around 15 percent below pre-war levels in March/April, Trend reports with reference to Oxford Institute of Energy Studies (OIES).
OIES report reveals that Russian refiners cut output of all products with VGO being the most severely affected due to the US direct sanctions on Russian oil, followed by jet, naphtha and fuel oil.
“Our Reference case sees the disruptions in Russian oil
production mainly due to self-sanctioning and the current sanction
measures reaching 1.6 mb/d ending-Q2. The EU
oil ban case assumes that the EU-27 reach a deal in Q2 to ban all
Russian oil imports by year-end, affecting over 60 percent of total
Russian oil exports to the region and resulting in the loss of 4
mb/d of Russian oil production by December 2022,” reads the
report.
OIES analysts note that the redirection of Russian crude exports to Asia, particularly India, has more than offset the lower intake elsewhere, pushing crude flows higher and near pre-COVID levels. Russian product exports fell by around 20 percent in April compared to pre-war levels and stood 12 percent lower y/y, albeit they continued to arrive in the EU mainly through blending.
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