Russia’s seaborne fuel oil and vacuum gasoil exports rose 8.5% in April from the previous month to around 4.0 million metric tons on rising production, trade and shipping data showed.

Russia’s offline primary oil refining capacity totalled 2.91 million tons last month, down 21% from March, leading to increasing fuel supplies.

Since the European Union’s full embargo on Russian oil products went into effect in February 2023, Asian countries became the main destination for Russia’s fuel oil and VGO supplies.

Saudi Arabia more than doubled Russian fuel oil imports in April to 0.7 million tons ahead of summer demand on power generation, shipping data showed.

The country has turned to importing more discounted Russian fuel oil for summer burn since 2023 as prices for Russian barrels declined following the conflict in Ukraine.

China, India, Singapore and Malaysia were among the other top destinations for Russian fuel oil and VGO export supplies in April, according to LSEG data.

China and India import straight-run fuel oil and VGO from Russia as a cheaper alternative to Urals crude oil in their refinery feedstock pool, while Malaysia and Singapore mostly place the cargoes on floating and ports storages for blending and further exports, according to market sources.

Recently, Indonesia became another transshipment hub in Asia for Russian oil products, market sources said and LSEG data showed.

More than 500,000 metric tons (3.2 million barrels) of fuel oil loaded from Russia’s Ust Luga oil terminal have arrived at Karimun so far this year, nearly five times the volume in the corresponding 2024 period, according to Kpler data.

Tankers carrying on board around 200,000 tons of fuel oil and VGO loaded in April in the Russian ports are on their way on Suez Canal Waiting Zone not showing final destination yet and also could end up in one of the Asian countries, shipping data showed.
Source: Reuters