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At the moment there is an embargo on oil supplies to Europe from Russia, Russia has decided to refocus from the West to the East. Thus, oil supplies to China and India have increased. Russian oil exports have increased by 70 million barrels of crude oil.
The traditional importer of Russian oil was Europe, but European elites have suspended cooperation and have begun to avoid deals with Russia. In fact, it has even become impossible to transfer money to pay for oil. The largest Russian banks were also hit by a huge list of sanctions.
India and China took advantage of this. Chinese state giants have not increased imports of Russian oil, despite huge discounts. China does not want to fall under the U.S. sanctions, which explains the lack of interest in Russian oil. However, private Chinese companies still began to buy oil, as it is more difficult to impose sanctions on a particular company than on the state.
India, being a link in the balance in the region, was not in a hurry to refuse Russian oil, especially since Russia introduced discounts on oil. Russia became the fourth largest supplier of oil to India in April, although previously it was in the eleventh place. In March, India increased imports of Russian oil by 40% up to 22.72 million tons. Tankers transported about 75 million barrels in the last week. At the same time, the country imported a total of 56.7 million tons of oil in the last three months, 12% more than a year earlier.
In April Asia for the first time overtook Europe as the most important buyer of oil from Russia.
Such oil supplies did not leave the U.S. apart. U.S. officials began to talk India out of importing Russian oil so that sanctions for Russia would be more tangible. Oil goes to Europe through pipelines. EU countries discussed imposing an embargo on Russian oil through the sixth package of sanctions. The agreement was reached on May 31 but it is yet to be signed. Not all countries approved the initiative, Hungary was against it. Chairman of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen previously claimed that Europe will abandon Russian oil by the end of 2022.
Russia is looking for ways out of a difficult situation and is reorienting itself toward the East. However, this is a very long process, and at this point, the question is how much the East needs Russia.
