Russian Oil and Gas Industry: News #4

Kiko wrote:Russia becomes India's 2nd largest oil supplier, 13.06.2022.

Russia became India's second-largest crude oil supplier in May as New Delhi is stockpiling the Russian commodity at a discount, Reuters reported on Monday, citing trade sources.

According to the report, Indian refineries received about 819,000 barrels per day of Russian oil last month, compared to about 277,000 in April. 

Iraq retained its position as India's largest oil supplier, while Saudi Arabia, which was previously India's second-largest exporter, fell to third place.

Overall, India's oil imports in May totaled 4.98 million barrels per day, an increase of 5.6% from the previous month and about 19% from the previous year, as domestic refineries were forced to increase production amid rising demand.

Many oil buyers began to despise Russian oil when Western sanctions hit the country in response to Russia's military operation in Ukraine, launched in late February. The UK and US have gone so far as to place an embargo on Russian oil, with the EU also planning the move in a few months. Russia, meanwhile, offered record discounts on its oil to attract buyers, prompting China and India to step up their purchases.

Despite calls to cut ties with Russia, India said it needed extra oil supplies to avoid a rise in fuel prices at home and noted that its Russian imports accounted for a mere fraction of the country's overall oil needs.

Yandex Translate from Portuguese

https://www.brasil247.com/mundo/russia-se-torna-2-maior-fornecedor-de-petroleo-da-india

flamming_python wrote:Not sure about the RSA ceding China

They after all have went to the trouble of bringing up a plan to start selling oil in Chinese currency. Why go to the trouble?

But certainly Russia and Saudi are co-operating

Germany is considering expropriating the German section of the Russia-led Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, cutting it off from the rest of the pipeline, and using the part on German territory for connecting to LNG supply that will come from Baltic Sea ports, German magazine Der Spiegel reported on Friday.

Bloomberg: The European Union is buying more Russian oil, 25.06.2022.

The increase is perceived, despite the embargo agreed by the community bloc less than a month ago.

Europe has increased the amount of oil imported from Russia, Bloomberg reported this week, after collecting tanker tracking data. Despite the embargo agreed by the bloc less than a month ago, the continent's refineries received 1.84 million barrels per day of Russian crude last week.

The volume of cargo represents the third consecutive weekly increase in shipments from Russia to Europe, including to Turkey, being at the same time the largest in almost two months, the media indicates.

The increase is attributed, in part, to the activities of Litasco SA, the commercial arm of the oil company Russian Lukoil, which transported the crude oil to its refineries in Italy, Romania, and Bulgaria, and, in part, to the acquisitions of Turkey, took advantage of the generous discounts advertised by Russian providers.

At the end of May, the European Union agreed to ban the export of Russian oil to the territory of the community bloc, cutting off about 90% of imports by the end of this year. The embargo prohibits maritime supplies, but contains certain exemptions for imports through the pipelines.

According to Bloomberg, some companies and countries have already reversed course, clearing the market for others, who see no reason to continue buying Russian oil at current prices, more advantageous compared to other alternatives.

Yandex Translate from Spanish.

https://actualidad.rt.com/actualidad/433819-union-europea-comprar-petroleo-ruso

owais.usmani wrote:Following footsteps of India, Pakistan is also now looking into the possibility of importing cheap crude oil from Russia.

owais.usmani wrote:

Following footsteps of India, Pakistan is also now looking into the possibility of importing cheap crude oil from Russia.

Cons outweigh pros as govt examines Russian oil options

ISLAMABAD: The much-talked-about Russian oil imports intended for cost savings may not materialise at institutional level as the cons outweigh pros, coupled with Moscow’s disinterest.

Informed sources told Dawn all the refineries had the technical capacity to the extent of 30 to 35 per cent to process Russian crude grades with minor adjustments. None of the Pakistani refineries can handle 100pc Russian crude of any grade. This simply means that imports from Russia can help diversify oil sources.

As rising global oil prices took a heavy toll on all sectors of the economy, former prime minister Imran Khan floated the idea of buying discounted Russian crude. However, after the current coalition government came to power, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail claimed that Russia had not replied to the previous administration’s communication regarding the offer.

A financial arrangement in the given political and regional environment is the key challenge. In fact, one of the big refiners had recently on its own arranged a couple of cargoes of Russian crude, but this was done through a third-party deal. This means a private trader provided Russian crude at different ports to Pakistani refiners and hence payments did not go directly to any Russian entity.

However, a senior industry executive said such an arrangement on a larger scale was not sustainable. That is a major challenge because Pakistani importers — currently struggling to arrange normal letters of credit (LCs) for oil imports under the country risk profile and limited foreign exchange reserves — have no financial backing to take a plunge.

Leading Pakistani banks like the National Bank of Pakistan and Habib Bank could not take a risk in the given circumstances because their operations mostly aligned with western countries.

Relatively smaller banks like Faysal, Meezan and Habib Metro, having Middle Eastern or Swiss shareholding, could opt for such arrangements, but then a strong political will in Pakistan and even stronger commitment from Russia was required.

Several refining experts agreed that the government was doing an exercise to explore Russian oil imports, but it was more for optics than actual interest in imports given the tilt of leading coalition partners towards the West than Russia.

The sources said a recent foreign ministry meeting discussed exploring energy imports, particularly crude from Russia, but no conclusive direction could be adopted.

Based on discussions in that meeting, the Ministry of Energy asked its four refineries — three coastal and another in Multan — to give their input and analysis regarding crude imports from Russia.

They were asked to respond to the technical suitability of crude grade in view of each refinery’s configuration, yield, quantity and the grade of the subject crude required by the respective refineries.

The refineries were also required to give a transportation and freight analysis for imports from Russia compared to regular imports from the Middle East on cost and benefit analysis and possible payment methodology.

The refiners were also asked to give feedback on existing commitments of upliftment from the Arab Gulf region under various term contracts.