Russian crude oil exports in the first 24 days of May 2022 are higher than the average for 2020 and 2021, suggesting sellers and traders are successfully finding ways around sanctions
Russian crude oil exports in the first 24 days of May 2022 average 3.6M barrels per day (b/d), compared with an average of slightly below 3.0M b/d in 2020 and 2021, according to oil and gas waterborne movements analytics platform Vortexa.
Vortexa chief economist David Wech noted, “The increase in exports is clearly due to higher flows towards European waters via the Baltic and Black Sea. Seaborne exports via these two routes increased from below 1.8M b/d in Q1 2022 to above 2.3M b/d in April and May.”
One reason for the increase in crude oil exports is the increase in availability of crude oil to export due the curtailing of production at domestic refineries.
Vortexa also noted that compared with the 95% of Russian crude oil from exported towards European waters via the Arctic, Baltic and Black Sea regions to Europe in Q4 2021, only 57% entered European waters in April and May 2022.
Not all the crude oil is reaching refineries in the East, as had been widely assumed, and a significant portion is now in floating storage.
In related news, it appears the Greek port of Kalamata has become a major hub for ship-to-ship (STS) transfers of Russian fuel oil being exported from the Black Sea.
According to Reuters, which used Refinitiv data, shipments of Russian-origin fuel oil to Greece reached 0.9M tonnes in April 2022, double the level of March.
Reuters reported the Russian fuel oil is being stored and blended on tankers with traders selling the product into hubs in the Middle East.
Reuters also reported traders and shippers have restarted Russian fuel oil STS operations off Rotterdam and Ceuta.
