Maritime shipments of Russian oil have been decreasing for the third consecutive week, reaching their lowest levels in the past two months. This trend is attributed to the tightening of sanctions by the United States, resulting in some Asian importers reducing their purchases of Russian crude. As a consequence, oil tankers with more than 350 million barrels of oil remain at sea, which is 7% higher than the level at the beginning of September. Meanwhile, Russia’s export revenue from oil has dropped to its lowest values since August, and in October, the Russian budget’s income from oil sales decreased by nearly 25% year-on-year.
This is reported by Business • Media
China, India, and the Search for Alternatives
The main buyers of Russian oil remain China and India. However, even these countries are reducing their purchase volumes. Indian state-owned oil refining companies are negotiating with giants like Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil to gradually replace Russian oil with alternative suppliers from Saudi Arabia and the UAE. At the same time, the largest Indian oil refiner, Indian Oil Corp., plans to purchase oil batches early next year that include Russian blends ESPO and Sokol.
Brazil Reduces Imports, Russia Sells Oil at a Discount
Brazil is gradually phasing out Russian diesel fuel. While in 2022, imports from Russia amounted to $95 million, by 2024, this figure has risen to $5.4 billion, allowing the country to save $1 billion. However, while at the beginning of the year the share of Russian fuel reached 60%, by October it had decreased to 17%. These changes have been made possible by sanctions, strikes by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Russian oil refineries, and a reduction in the size of discounts on Russian oil products.
Under the pressure of U.S. sanctions, Russia is forced to sell oil at record low prices. In particular, the discount on Urals oil compared to Brent at the ports of Primorsk and Novorossiysk reached $19.4 per barrel on November 10, the highest figure in a year. At the beginning of November, this discount was $13-14.
According to the Russian Ministry of Finance, the income of the Russian budget for the first ten months of the year amounted to ₽29.68 trillion, which is only 0.8% more than in the same period last year. At the same time, oil and gas revenues amounted to ₽7.5 trillion, falling by 21.4%.
According to estimates from Ukrainian intelligence, by the end of 2025, Russia will lose at least $37 billion in revenue from oil and gas exports.