Crude oil
Many Moscow refineries were closed due to Ukrainian drone attacks, due to which Russia cut its fuel exports. Now India is coming forward to fulfill this shortage. Private refiner companies of India, such as Reliance Industries and Naira Energy, Brazil, Turkey, are increasing fuel supply in parts of UAE and Africa, as these countries are looking for Russian fuel options.
According to Kepler’s data, Russia preferred its domestic market and banned exports to avoid fuel deficiency. This reduced Russia’s fuel exports in September about 2 lakh barrels per day (BPD). Kepler’s researcher Sumit Ritolia said that fuel exports from Russia were limited in late September due to obstruction in Russian refineries and ban on diesel and gasoline. India took advantage of this opportunity. India’s refined fuel exports to Brazil rose from 40,000 BPD in August to 97,000 BPD in September. The supply to Türkiye also increased from 20,000 BPD to 56,000 BPD, while nothing was sent to Türkiye in September last year. Ritolia said that when Russia’s diesel, gasoline production is low, countries like India fulfill this deficiency. Most of the supply was done by Reliance, while Naira’s contribution was low.
These are big buyers
Türkiye and Brazil are Russia’s big diesel buyers. Naira had not sent anything to these countries in the last two years, but after the European Union sanctions, she started supply in August-September. India’s supply to UAE also increased from 1.4 lakh BPD of August to 2.01 lakh BPD in September. Egypt and Togo were also sent more fuel, but the supply to America, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia decreased.
Overall, India’s refined fuel exports rose 14% to 15.9 lakh BPD in September. Quicrain intensified drone attacks on Russian refineries and pipelines, affecting some refining capacity and reduced the production of petrol and diesel. According to media reports, the demand for fuel before winter is increasing, due to which some areas of Russia saw a decrease on pumps and a rise in prices. The objective of Kiev is to weaken the earnings from Russia’s oil and gas exports with these attacks. Russia’s fuel exports decreased due to low number of refineries due to drone attacks, but became more available for crude oil exports.