By Clyde Russell
LAUNCESTON, Australia- A new scramble for crude oil market share in Asia may be kicking off as top exporters Saudi Arabia and Russia move to boost cargoes to the world’s top importing region.
China, the world’s biggest oil importer, is emerging as ground zero for the two exporters, who are ostensibly allies in the wider OPEC+ group of producers.
Russia had overtaken Saudi Arabia as the top supplier to China, largely as a result of it being forced to discount its crude after Western sanctions because of its war in Ukraine cut the pool of buyers to mainly China and India, with a small volume heading to minor players such as Myanmar.
But Russia’s seaborne shipments to China have stalled in the first two months of this year, partly as the result of new sanctions on shipping introduced by former US President Joe Biden just prior to leaving office in January.
China’s seaborne imports from Russia dropped to 969,000 barrels per day (bpd) in February, down from 1.01 million bpd in January and the lowest on a per day basis since December 2022, according to data compiled by commodity analysts Kpler.
For the first two months of the year, China’s seaborne imports from Russia were 990,000 bpd, down 270,000 bpd from the preceding two months.
India, which saw Russia jump to become its top supplier since the sanctions, also saw lower imports from Russia in the first two months of the year.
India’s imports from Russia dropped to 1.43 million bpd in February, the lowest on a per day basis since January 2023 and down from 1.63 million bpd in January, according to Kpler data.
For the first two months of 2025, India imported 1.56 million bpd from Russia, down from 1.63 million bpd in the previous two months.
But both China and India are poised for a rebound in imports from Russia in March, as traders and refiners work around the sanctions, continuing a pattern in which the market finds ways around sanctions measures shortly after they are imposed. – Reuters
