Russia’s oil exports soar to record high in March

NEW DELHI: Sanctions on Russian oil by Western countries failed to have any major impact as the country’s oil export soared in March 2023 to the highest level since April 2020.According to the monthly oil market report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the oil shipments rose by 0.6 million barrels per day (mb/d) to 8.1 million barrels a day, with crude supply climbing  450 kb/d (thousand barrels per day) month-on-month to 3.1 million barrels per day. Russia’s revenue in March 2023 from oil export rebounded by USD 1 billion to USD 12.7 billion, but was 43% lower than a year ago.

Ever since war broke out between Russia and Ukraine, Western countries have either shunned or stopped purchasing crude oil from Russia. In December 2022, the European Union (EU) and its G7 allies imposed a price of USD 60 per barrel cap on the export of Russian crude to stop Russia making ‘profit from oil and funding war in Ukraine’.  In February 2023, they also banned imports of refined petroleum products from Russia, including diesel and jet fuel. However, Russia diversified its export to Asia, Africa, Middle East and Turkiya. According to data from energy analytics company Vortexa, China and India imported 91% of Russia’s crude oil exports in March 2023. India, which used to import less than 2% of Russian crude, imports 35% of its oil imports from Russia.