Bloomberg: Russia has overcome the EU’s oil sanctions

Russia last week increased oil supplies by sea last week to 3.8 million barrels per day, the highest level since April 2022, according to an analysis by Bloomberg.

In the week ending January 13, 2023, supplies increased by 876,000 barrels per day, or 30%, compared to the week before, and reached 3.8 million barrels, according to a Bloomberg report.

Russian oil shipments through the Baltic Sea increased by 626,000 barrels per day compared to the previous week, as well as shipments through the Black Sea and Pacific Ocean ports.

Bloomberg report revealed that “Russian seaborne crude oil exports rose to their highest level since April 2022, and Russia has now overcome the initial shock caused by Western European sanctions”.

Bloomberg pointed out that the sanctions imposed by the European Union on Russian oil led to an increase in the transport period of energy tankers, for example, the delivery period from the Baltic ports to India has reached 31 days.

The report also pointed out that oil shipments by tankers without specifying the final destination increased significantly in the past week.

On December 5, 2022, Western sanctions on Russian oil entered into force, as the EU stopped buying Russian oil by sea, and the G7 countries, Australia and the European Union imposed a price limit on Russian oil barrel at $60, as it was prohibited to transfer or provide insurance services for shipments that the price is higher than this level.

For its part, Moscow responded to setting a price limit of its oil barrel by banning the supply of oil to countries with which the contracts concluded, directly or indirectly, stipulate the use of the price-setting mechanism, and the implementation of the ban begins as of February 2023.