The Coming Russian Struggle for New Markets for Its Oil
Diverting crude from Europe to Asia will need big discounts and a lot more ships
Russia can increase domestic energy consumption and boost exports to new markets after some “unfriendly” countries have rejected Russian oil. So says President Vladimir Putin. It sounds simple, but it’s going to be a lot tougher in practice once the next wave of restrictions on Moscow’s oil trade kicks in.
So far, there has been little obvious impact on the volume of crude flowing from Russia’s export terminals. While seaborne shipments drifted lower during the first weeks after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there was no sudden collapse. And the rate of exports surged in the first week of April, due in part to the easing of storms in the Black Sea, which had led to a backlog of ships waiting to load at a key port.