According to Alexander Novak, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, almost the whole volume of Russian crude exports in 2023 will be shared between India and China.
Almost half of all exports went to China, while India received 40%, Novak was quoted as saying by state-run news media in Moscow on December 27.
“The current situation’s main partners are China, whose share has grown to approximately 45-50 percent, and, of course, India,” Novak told Reuters.
“Previously, there were no supplies to India; in two years, the total share of supplies to India has increased to 40%,” said the deputy prime minister, who is in charge of Russia’s energy industry.
According to Novak, the percentage of Europe, which was the primary importer of Russian oil and petroleum before the Ukraine conflict, has plummeted to roughly 4-5 percent. In the year before 2022, the continent’s share in Russian crude exports was 40-45 percent.
“Russia has successfully circumvented sanctions on its oil and diverted flows from Europe to China and India, which together accounted for around 90 percent of its crude exports,” Novak said on Rossiya-24, a state-run
He stated that one of the reasons Moscow was able to avoid sanctions was that it began establishing connections with Asia-Pacific nations well before the West slapped its most rigorous set of sanctions against the country in February 2022, when the crisis with Ukraine erupted.
“As for those restrictions and embargoes on supplies to Europe and the U.S. that were introduced… this only accelerated the process of reorienting our energy flows,” he said.
When questioned about the OPEC+ country’s decision to decrease oil flow, Novak said that Russia is a member of the organization and will comply with the supply reduction responsibilities. He said that the UK expects Brent prices to be around $80-$85 per barrel in 2024, which is about in line with current levels.
India had a marketable surplus of oilseeds of 243.96 liters and edible oil availability of 70.86 liters in 2021-2022. However, the government’s first predictions for 2023-2024 oilseed production were 215.33 liters.
In September 2023, India produced 2.4 million metric tonnes (MMT) of crude oil, a steady increase over the previous year. However, India’s crude oil production fell 0.4% to 2.4 MMT in November 2023.
India’s net import bill for oil and gas in September 2023 was $10 billion, down from $10.8 billion in September 2022. However, owing to a surge in global crude oil prices in October 2023, India’s trade deficit rose.
