Russia is importing almost 270,000 tonnes of refined fuels from Asia this month, creating an extraordinary reversal in tanker trade flows as repeated Ukrainian strikes on refineries leave one of the world’s largest energy producers short of fuel, with images of long queues at Russian petrol stations becoming commonplace.
Preliminary shipping data cited by Reuters shows around a third of the August volume originated in India, with other cargoes loaded through ship-to-ship transfers off South Korea and Malaysia. No comparable Asian shipments arrived in Russia during July.
The flows are the latest consequence of Ukraine’s sustained campaign against Russia’s downstream energy infrastructure.
Russia is normally a major exporter of refined petroleum products, but refinery shutdowns have triggered renewed fuel shortages across the country. Authorities in at least 10 regions tightened controls on fuel sales this month, while petrol has again disappeared from some filling stations around Moscow.
Moscow has responded with a series of measures aimed at keeping more fuel at home. From August 1, Russia imposed a temporary ban on exports of gasoline, diesel, marine fuel and gasoil, with restrictions running through January 31 next year, although exemptions apply to some producer exports from September.
The tanker movements illustrate just how distorted Russia’s energy trade has become.
India has become one of the largest buyers of discounted Russian crude since the invasion of Ukraine. Russian oil can now sail east to Asian refineries before some of the resulting petroleum products make the long voyage back towards Russia.
At the same time, damage to Russian refineries has at points left Moscow with more crude available for export precisely because it cannot process it domestically.
