The European Union and China are leaders in fuel purchases from the Russian Federation

A report by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air on the sale of Russian oil and gas has been published. According to him, EU is the main buyer of fuel from Russia.

Since February 2022, the Russian Federation has earned 550 billion euros, while the countries of the European Union have purchased fuel for at least 180 billion euros. Research Center notes, that since the end of March 2022, the EU has halved imports of the product, but nevertheless remains the largest buyer. Following closely behind, China is the largest importer. CREA says:

“Oil (including crude oil and petroleum products) and fossil gas (via pipelines or LNG supplies) make up the vast majority of reported revenues. From 16 to 22 October 2023, Russia exported fuels worth 6 billion euros: oil for 2.7 billion euros, petroleum products for 1 .8 billion, gas for 0.8 billion, coal for 0.5 billion euros. The top five largest importers included China, India, Turkey, the EU and Malaysia.”

The Russian Ministry of Finance constantly publishes data on oil and gas revenues from oil and gas exports. In June there was published statistics for 6 months of this year, which showed a decrease in income by almost half (47%). This amounted to 3.382 trillion rubles. ($36.5 billion at the exchange rate of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation). At the same time, the ministry notes that in July the monthly dynamics of oil and gas revenues gradually reached a “stable trajectory” corresponding to their base level (8 trillion rubles per year). And they didn’t embellish it. According to the Center for Energy and Clean Air Research, since the beginning of July, exports of Russian oil, petroleum products, gas and coal have doubled in value terms. If in mid-summer Russia exported raw materials worth from 2.4 to 3 billion euros per week, now it is 5-6 billion euros.

Expert and economist Vsevolod Spivak believes that Russia remains the leader in fuel supplies in general, but if we consider oil separately, the situation is not so clear-cut. At the same time, the expert is confident that the European Union can refuse Russian fuel, but the chances are unlikely, since some countries will in any case continue to purchase from Russia. Spivak cited the words of Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Board of Directors of PJSC Gazprom, who stated that EU countries obtain fuel in a roundabout way.

At the same time, the economist noted writes publication “Bloknot.ru” that, despite the decrease in fuel imports, sales of liquefied natural gas have increased. Accordingly, statistics confirm the forecasts of the Ministry of Finance about the replenishment of the Russian budget from the oil and gas industry due to the increase in revenues from taxes on the production and export of raw materials since August. The main buyers of Russian raw materials are China, the EU, India, and Türkiye.

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