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India, China growing markets for shunned Russian oil

Published:Tuesday | June 14, 2022 | 12:10 AM
An employee of a Bharat petroleum fuel station fills petrol in a vehicle in Mumbai, India, on Saturday. India and other Asian nations are becoming an increasingly vital source of oil revenues for Moscow as the US and other Western countries cut their energ
AP
An employee of a Bharat petroleum fuel station fills petrol in a vehicle in Mumbai, India, on Saturday. India and other Asian nations are becoming an increasingly vital source of oil revenues for Moscow as the US and other Western countries cut their energy imports from Russia, in line with sanctions over its war on Ukraine.

NEW DELHI (AP):

India and other Asian nations are becoming an increasingly vital source of oil revenues for Moscow despite strong pressure from the US not to increase their purchases, as the European Union and other allies cut off energy imports from Russia, in line with sanctions over its war on Ukraine.

Such sales are boosting Russian export revenues at a time when Washington and allies are trying to limit financial flows supporting Moscow’s war effort.

A report by the Helsinki, Finland-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, an independent think tank released on Monday said Russia earned €93 billion (US$97.4 billion) in revenue from fossil fuel exports in the first 100 days of the country’s invasion of Ukraine, despite a fall in export volumes in May.

“Revenue from fossil fuel exports is the key enabler of Russia’s military build-up and aggression, providing 40 per cent of federal budget revenue,” it said.

India, an oil-hungry country of 1.4 billion people, has guzzled nearly 60 million barrels of Russian oil in 2022 so far, compared with 12 million barrels in all of 2021, according to commodity data firm Kpler. Shipments to other Asian countries, like China, have also increased in recent months, but to a lesser extent.

In an interview with AP, Sri Lanka’s prime minister said he may be compelled to buy more oil from Russia as he hunts desperately for fuel to keep the country running amid a dire economic crisis.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Saturday he would first look to other sources, but would be open to buying more crude from Moscow.

In late May, Sri Lanka bought a 90,000-metric-ton (99,000-ton) shipment of Russian crude to restart its only refinery.

Russia is moving to diversify its exports. Russian Ambassador Marat Pavlov met Philippine President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Monday and offered Moscow’s help to provide oil and gas. He did not specify the terms.

Marcos Jr, whose six-year term is set to begin on June 30, did not say if he was considering the offer.