Moscow has found buyers for all the oil exports targeted by a Western embargo, Nikolay Shulginov says. The country has found buyers for all of the supplies at risk of being stranded due to sanctions
Moscow has completely redirected all of its oil exports from ‘unfriendly states’ to new markets, Energy Minister Nikolay Shulginov stated on Tuesday.
According to the minister, supplies are now destined to Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East.
“Already we can state that we have managed to fully redirect the entire volume of exports which initially fell out due to sanctions. There is no decrease in sales,” Shulginov stated.
Russia has succeeded in redirecting its crude oil and fuel exports after the EU embargoes and the price cap set by the West, Russian Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov said on Tuesday.
Russia hasn’t reduced its sales of crude and petroleum products, the minister was quoted as saying by Russian news agency TASS.
“As far as sanctions are concerned, it is important to not only keep the production and refining volumes but exports, too, and thus the revenues for the federal budget,” Shulginov was quoted as saying.
Earlier on Tuesday, the deputy prime minister and former energy minister, Aleksandr Novak, also noted that the volume of exports to India alone rose by 22 times in 2022. Russia also became China’s top oil supplier in the first two months of 2023, with delivery volumes in January-February surging 23.8% year-on-year.
Late last year, the EU stopped accepting Russian oil transported by sea, while a G7-led coalition imposed a price cap on seaborne Russian crude at $60 a barrel. Russia responded by banning oil deliveries to foreign buyers whose contracts mention the price cap.
Another round of sanctions came into effect on February 5. Brussels placed an embargo on imports of seaborne Russian oil products, also complemented by a price cap. The limit was set at $100 per barrel for petroleum products trading at a premium to oil and $45 per barrel for those trading at a discount.
Despite the sanctions, Russia increased both oil exports and crude production last year, by 7.6% and 2%, respectively. This year, Russian energy companies have been raising output further, with the average daily production of crude oil and condensate reportedly growing by almost 2% in February compared to the previous month.
Tanker-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg showed this week that Russia’s crude oil exports by sea have held above the 3 million barrels per day (bpd) mark in the past six weeks after the EU ban on fuel imports from Russia took effect and after Moscow said it would lower its production by 500,000 bpd.