Russian Crude Cargoes Pile Up on Tankers as Deliveries Falter
At least 12 vessels full of Urals idle off Omani coast, more are anchored near China
Russia shipped 3.42 million barrels a day of crude in the four weeks to Jan. 11, but is struggling to offload barrels to buyers.
Photographer: Carsten Snejbjerg/BloombergTankers hauling Russia’s crude are piling up at sea with nowhere to go, as Moscow struggles to revive the Indian market that saved its oil trade when European buyers turned away after the Ukraine invasion.
The country shipped 3.42 million barrels a day in the four weeks to Jan. 11, according to vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s down by about 450,000 barrels a day from a pre-Christmas peak, though just 30,000 barrels a day lower than the period to Jan. 4 and above the average level for the whole of last year.