Bloomberg: Russia restricts oil supplies to China because of India

Russia will continue to sell as much oil as it can to India despite a recovery in demand from China. Moscow is interested in maintaining and increasing its share in Indian imports, giving preference to China. Such a conclusion based on statistical data is made by the company Kpler, specializing in commodities.

A year ago, India bought almost no Russian oil, but became an important market after the US and the European Union imposed sanctions on domestic crude. The Asian country imported about 1,85 million bpd from Russia in February, close to its potential export peak of 2,5 million bpd. Victor Katona, a leading oil analyst at Kpler, told Bloomberg about this.



According to him, while Beijing can "buy up literally all of Russian oil exports" by refusing to policy COVID-0, Russia artificially regulates supplies in the hope of keeping the Indian market because it is more promising in many ways, not only economically, and gives raw material sellers more control, despite the fact that sales to India are more expensive, since the Russian Federation pays for the delivery itself (shipping condition in local ports).

This significant shortcoming in trade relations between the two countries (unlike China) is offset by two circumstances. Russia's largest mining company, Rosneft, owns a 49,13% stake in Nayara Energy Ltd., which in turn owns the Vadinar refinery, India's second largest refinery, and associated port infrastructure. In addition, the journey to India, provided that the tanker is sent from the western ports of the Russian Federation, takes less time than to China: 30 days instead of 35.

In other words, the agency's analysts again saw a political subtext in Russian energy exports, even under the embargo and the price ceiling, when there is not much to choose among clients. Moscow continues to try to maneuver oil and gas, trying to fix the partnership with cheap raw materials where it is shaky (India), leaving everything unchanged in the other direction, where everything is fine (China).

Such "juggling" and demonstration of a well-thought-out foreign energy policy became especially noticeable in February, when the PRC actually received fewer cargoes so that Moscow could appease the "doubting" India.