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28.03.2023 12:00
Russian diesel exports have risen massively, although the EU has imposed an import ban on the fuel as part of its sanctions against Russia.
The EU has imposed an import ban. Nevertheless, Russia exports more diesel than it has in a long time. (Photo: dpa)
Photo: Axel Heimken
Russia’s diesel exports are expected to reach a new record high in March. This is all the more surprising given that the European Union has imposed an embargo on Russian diesel. Important buyers are, for example, Turkey and Morocco. In addition, some cargoes from Russia are also held in floating storage facilities.
According to the Bloomberg According to data released Friday by Vortexa, a real-time energy transportation tracker, about 1.5 million barrels of diesel fuel were shipped from Russia every day for the first 19 days of March. If this rate is maintained, this month will see the highest exports since the beginning of 2016.
“Russia’s refineries continued to be well utilized in March, which has enabled robust diesel production,” oil analyst Mikhail Turukalov quoted Bloomberg as saying. “Domestic producers seem quite confident that they can sell their volumes to foreign buyers – the discounts they offer are high enough and there are new markets for the fuel.”
However, the boom in diesel shipments could soon be over. The loading plans of the main Russian ports show a decrease in April compared to the plans of March. A large part of Russia’s diesel fuel exports go to Turkey. Other importers include Morocco, Brazil, Tunisia and even the largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia.
Since the start of the import ban by the European Union, however, there has also been a significant increase in the quantities of diesel fuel stored in floating storage from Russia. This could be a sign that it may have become difficult to find buyers for Russian diesel, much of which has historically been shipped to the EU.