Bulk coil and coal carriage by rail in Russia may decline in 2023 in annual terms in view of introduced restrictions for the energy sector, Deputy CEO of Russian Railways Aleksey Shilo told reporters, Trend reports citing TASS.
"The plan we took for 2023 provides for a reduction in respect of bulk oil cargo <...> and hard coal," the top manager said.
Restrictions already in effect or announced by Western countries can be the drivers for the decline of petroleum product shipments in 2023, Shilo noted. Bulk oil shipments may total 4.5 mln metric tons in 2023. Shipments of coal may drop in view of the declining demand for coal-fired power generation.
Russian Railways shipped 354.4 mln metric tons of hard coal (down 4.6% year-on-year) and 216 mln metric tons of crude oil and petroleum products (minus 0.7% annually) as of 2022 year-end.