Oil India buys from Russia "floods" to Europe? US profits from gas; EU businesses disappointed with sanctions

Europe's diesel imports from India, one of Russia's biggest crude oil buyers, are on track to surge to 305,000 barrels per day, the highest since 2017, according to data firm Kpler.

European companies frustrated by Russia sanctions. (Source: Shutterstock)

Reliance Industries, Europe's top supplier of Indian diesel, imports more than a third of its crude from Russia, figures show.

The surge in diesel imports from India also shows a shift in oil trade after Russia launched its military campaign in Ukraine.

Previously, Russia was the leading supplier of diesel to Europe. However, in late 2022, Europe banned most seaborne imports of Russian crude oil.

As the West shuns Russian oil, demand for Russian crude is rising in Asia. Indian refiners can buy Russian crude at a discount and sell the refined oil in high diesel demand markets like Europe.

India is also helping Europe fill the supply gap as imports from the US, Türkiye and Saudi Arabia fell in November.

European diesel imports from Saudi Arabia are expected to fall to just 94,000 barrels per day, the lowest level since 2020.

Eugene Lindell, an expert at energy consultancy Facts Global Energy, said that Saudi Arabia's available oil supply fell sharply in October and November due to planned maintenance at domestic refineries.

Indian refiners could buy around 1.6-1.8 million barrels of Russian crude per day, said Viktor Katona, crude oil analyst at Kpler.

“India’s diesel share going to Asia is now just around 19% of total exports, down sharply from last year. Kpler data shows that much of that volume has gone to Europe,” he said.

* On December 3, the Greek City Times newspaper reported that European Union (EU) companies expressed disappointment with the sanctions against Russia, seeing that their colleagues can do business successfully and make profits in Russia.

According to the article, some EU companies that continue to operate in Russia have reported significant increases in profits by the end of 2022.

The author of the article concludes that the recognition of this fact could seriously affect the final list of anti-Russian restrictions stipulated in the 12th package of sanctions of the European Union (EU), and could even lead to the rejection of the sanctions package.

* Data from the European statistics agency Eurostat shows that the US has earned a total of 66.7 billion euros since February 2022 from supplying gas to European countries.

The agency also said that without sanctions against Russia, the US would have earned 52 billion euros less.

In 2021, before the imposition of sanctions, Russia supplied the EU with 1.25 billion cubic meters of gas per month worth 725 million euros.

Europe paid the US €52.2 billion more than it should have paid the Russians for the same volume of fuel, Eurostat analysts noted.

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