Europe has overtaken Asia in consumption of American oil

For the first time in six years, Europe has become the largest buyer of oil from the United States, confidently displacing Asia.

As writes Bloomberg, this year, from January to May, Europe received about 213.1 million barrels of crude oil from the US, Asia for the same period – 191.1 million barrels. Asia last lagged behind in 2016, when the United States lifted its ban on crude oil exports.

This indicator, which demonstrates the change in the flow of oil, once again underlines the reorientation of energy supplies associated with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Sanctions were imposed on Russian oil, which are designed to stop the financing of the war. The result was an increase in the number of countries that turned to the United States for oil imports. And Russia, meanwhile, is offering heavy discounts on crude oil to loyal states that have not imposed bans on it, such as China and India.

The United States is not yet able to fully satisfy the demand of both Asia and Europe. Although it is worth noting that crude oil production there is growing, but we would like to do it faster. And the Middle East, in turn, is also limited in sending this energy resource to Europe and cannot yet decide on the volumes.

The largest producers in the region Saudi Arabia and the UAE are already trying to meet their production obligations under the OPEC+ agreement. Other suppliers, such as Libya, are struggling with political unrest that restricts exports.

Germany, we recall, will completely stop buying Russian coal from August 1 and Russian oil from December 31. Against the backdrop of the current situation, Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), advised Europe to prepare for the fact that Russia will cut off gas supplies in the winter.

Source link