African nations boosted the import of Russian oil products, including the all-important diesel exports, in January ahead of the imposition of the latest round of sanctions on Russian oil products. The outlook for the success of the EU’s oil product sanctions remains very confused as the market races to remake itself in the face of the new realities.
Russia is being forced to remake its oil export business after the EU banned all imports of crude on December 5 and at the same time followed up by launching and oil price cap scheme. The second phase of the energy sanctions has just come into force, when the EU banned all imports oil products on February 5 and imposed a similar price cap scheme on these much more widely distributed products.
Diesel is one the most important. The EU continued to receive more than a quarter of its diesel imports (about 612,000 barrels per day) from Russia in January, while the bloc comprised roughly 41% of the Russian export market in January and now must find new buyers.
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