Russia made good money on large supplies of fuel oil to the USA

In 2020, Russia increased the supply of fuel oil to the United States, which is taking place in the context of the displacement of Venezuelan oil from the commodity markets, a reduction in Mexico's production of "black gold" under the OPEC Plus agreements, as well as sanctions imposed on oil products from Iran. OilPrice writes about a short "black oil romance" between Moscow and Washington.

Since 2019, there has been a decrease in the volume of fuel oil shipments to Europe and a gradual increase in sales of this raw material to US consumers. American refiners have used Russian sour crude as a secondary feedstock to produce coke, with mutual benefit for the Russians. Thus, Russia was able to make good money on large supplies of fuel oil to the United States.



However, since November last year, Russian fuel oil supplies to the United States have decreased, and the main reasons for their decrease were the coronavirus pandemic, Hurricane Zeta, as well as seasonal technical maintenance of Russian facilities.

However, the decline in fuel oil supplies overseas does not indicate a tendency towards their termination. In many respects, these processes are seasonal in nature, since in winter the demand for power generation from fuel oil decreases due to the reduction in the use of air conditioners. In general, Russian oil products for American refineries are still very attractive - many local refineries have invested significant funds in desulfurization processes in the past two years.