Some countries will have enough Russian offshore oil for half a year, expert says
20.05.2026 - 16:50
Russian oil stored in floating storage facilities will last some countries for six months.
This was stated by Max Pizur, director of the American research department of the Energy Policy Research Foundation, in an interview with Ukrinform.
According to him, Russia has stored about 100 million barrels of oil in floating storage facilities. This will allow some countries to partially compensate for supply disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz for six months.
“This is a very large volume — the equivalent of about 50 very large oil tankers,” explained Pizur.
He specified that thanks to these reserves, some countries “at least for the next 120-200 days” will be able to be less dependent on oil supplies, which usually arrive through the Strait of Hormuz.
According to the expert, the largest consumers of Russian oil are China and India. South Korea and Japan can also use Russian “floating” reserves.
Pizyur noted that about 21 million barrels of energy passed through the Strait of Hormuz daily, of which about 14.5 million barrels were crude oil.
At the same time, the biggest problems for the world economy arose, according to him, precisely because of the shortage of petroleum products.
“About 6.5 million barrels that passed through the Strait of Hormuz daily are gasoline, diesel, aviation and marine fuel. These products are much more difficult to replace,” the expert emphasized.
He noted that the fuel shortage negatively affects the economies of Japan, China, India, Pakistan and a number of African countries.
The analyst also drew attention to India’s role in the global petroleum products market. The world’s largest oil refinery, Reliance, near Mumbai, processes about 1 million barrels of oil per day. Pizyur noted that India exports the produced petroleum products to Europe, East Asia and Australia.
Thus, according to him, Europe indirectly consumes a significant amount of Russian oil.Earlier, USM reported that due to the crisis in the Middle East, Britain will allow the import of fuel from Rosneft.
