India has become the largest seaborne importer of Russian crude in the wake of the EU ban on seaborne oil imports and subsequent G7 price cap for exports.
Exports to India increased to 1.2 Mb/d in November last year, according to Poten & Partners. The volumes of exports eased slightly in December 2022.
India is followed by China, which has increased its intake of Russian crude, from around 600 Kb/d in the beginning of the year to around 940 Kb/d in November.
“While India is targeting mostly European barrels from the Black Sea and some from the Baltic, China has focused on the Russian exports from the Far East. Currently, China buys almost all crude exported from Kozmino as other traditional customers Korea and Japan reduced their imports. Turkey initially increased its purchases from the Kremlin, but its imports of Russian crude have fallen by more than 50% since peaking in August,” Poten said.
The ton-mile demand generated by Russian crude oil exports has tripled since the February of 2022, driving more ton-mile demand and tightening the oil markets.
This trend has been very supportive for the freight market and is likely to continue in 2023.
For January to date, Europe has imported ~1mbd of clean products from Russia, most of which is diesel. Rather than weaning itself of Russian supplies this month, Europe has maximized import volumes, Gibson said in its weekly tanker report.