Damascus-SANA
At a time when the European Union is gradually reducing its dependence on Russian energy resources, Moscow continues to make progress in confronting Western sanctions imposed on the Russian energy sector by finding markets in Africa and Asia to promote and export its oil product, achieving good achievements in this framework.
While the Western economies entered the phase of slow negative growth and fell prey to stagnation as a result of the wrong policies based on imposing sanctions, Russia is actively seeking to maintain its share in the global market of the energy sector and avoid a greater decline in its production and oil exports, as Africa and Asia have become the main options for its supplies, according to the data of the Corporation. Refinitiv Financial Markets.
According to data from Refinitiv Corporation, Moscow exported at least five shipments of about 230 thousand tons of gasoline and naphtha in the period from May to last June from the port of Ust Luga on the Baltic Sea to the Sultanate of Oman to the Fujairah oil center in the UAE, where the data showed that the total of these supplies It reached about 550,000 tons this year, compared to zero last year, according to Reuters.
Reuters also revealed that Russian diesel shipments to African countries have reached one million tons since the beginning of the year, as Nigeria and Morocco have been the two main destinations in Africa for Russian gasoline and naphtha in the past few months, with several shipments being supplied to Senegal, Sudan, Ivory Coast and Togo.
And a Bloomberg report found that Western efforts to deprive Russia of abundant oil revenues have turned global flows upside down, leading to a scramble for alternatives and allowing Russian supplies to reach buyers willing to receive them throughout the region.
In a clear indication of Russia’s readiness to confront Western countries’ actions towards it against the backdrop of its military operation in Ukraine, data from the energy research company “Ristard Energy” showed that Russian oil imports to Asia rose by about 347 percent since the start of its operation in Ukraine, based on the average period from March to May. for the year 2022.
The rise in Russian oil imports came after the increase in exports to India and China by 658 percent and 205 percent, respectively, with the support of the sharp discount granted by Moscow on the price of its oil, reaching 30 percent compared to international prices, so that it could benefit from its strategic relations with the People’s Republic of China, the largest global market, and to become One of the largest oil exporters to China.
Russia sold crude oil to Beijing at preferential prices, to record oil imports, according to Chinese customs administration data, an increase of 55 percent compared to last year, reaching a record level last May, achieving 8.42 million tons, equivalent to 1.98 million barrels per day, according to the BBC website.
India has also emerged as an important importer of Russian crude with competitive price margins provided by Russia, as Indian refineries have accepted Ural crude as it is similar to the grades of oil in the Middle East, as well as having a low sulfur content.
Experts in energy security believe that China and India will constitute the largest alternative markets for Russian oil, as India, before the sanctions, imported a little oil from Russia, but during the past two months it imported larger quantities of crude oil, reaching 600,000 barrels per day, as the Chinese government and private sector refineries began In importing Russian oil, especially since it is sold at less than the world price, as no buyer can resist its temptation.
Asian markets constitute an ideal destination for Russian oil, which before the Russian special operation in Ukraine obtained 35 percent of Russian oil, while today estimates indicate that it has increased by 50 percent since the beginning of this year, which Dr. Leonid Sokyanin, a professor at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, attributed to Asian markets enjoy two things that are in Russia's interest. The first is the increasing demand for oil, especially in industrial China, which needs a lot of cheap crude, and the second is that it does not need the SWIFT system for international financial transfers to pay Russia for the oil imported from it.
Fahmy El Shaarawy
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