Russian oil for India has found buyers in China

After a decrease in purchases of Russian oil by Indian refineries, tankers began to accumulate in The Indian Ocean. However, in February, private factories in China began to buy volumes.

"Chinese refineries are actively buying up Russian oil, which India refuses, helping Moscow to compensate for the decline in purchases from a country that is usually the largest buyer of Russian oil by tankers," writes Bloomberg.

Last year, the United States imposed sanctions on Lukoil and Rosneft and began to put pressure on India with duties so that it refused to import from Russia. Followed by the USA and India has agreed on a trade deal, and Donald Trump said that India will fulfill his demand. In New Delhi itself, no statements are made, but some of the refineries refused to purchase.

"According to vessel tracking data, Russian oil supplies to Chinese ports increased to 2.09 million barrels per day in the first 18 days of February. Such an increase compared to exports of 1.72 million barrels per day in January and 1.39 million in December more than compensated for the decline in supplies to India," the agency writes.

According to him, Chinese refineries are buying up all export grades of oil from Russia: more and more tankers are coming from Urals from the Baltic and Black Sea ports, as well as Arctic ports.

"When India first started reducing Urals purchases in August, Chinese oil refineries, including Shandong Yulong Petrochemical, sought to outbid problem cargoes, and bought at least 10 shipments. Just a few months later, the Shandong Yulong Petrochemical mega-refinery complex became the largest buyer of Urals in China," Bloomberg writes.

Now, more and more private Chinese oil refining companies are considering Urals because of large discounts, the agency noted. It claims that the discount reaches $ 12 per barrel.

"China is now enjoying a huge incentive to import Russian oil, given that it is the buyer of last resort for any stuck oil," said Jun Guo, senior oil market analyst at Sparta Commodities.