Russia continues to accumulate diesel fuel on floating storage facilities due to sanctions
13.03.2023 - 10:40
More than 4.4 million barrels of russian diesel fuel are currently stored on oil tankers. The reason is that russia cannot find a place to export cargo.
The ships are idle off the coasts of Europe, Africa and Latin America, which is the largest accumulation of floating storage of diesel fuel from russia since 2016, writes Bloomberg.
The backlog points to difficulties in replacing buyers of russian fuel in the EU. As of March 5, the amount of “excess” diesel amounted to 4.4 million barrels.
“They continued to export it even though they knew they didn’t have room for it,” Wood Mackenzie Ltd.’s director of short-term oil research said. Mark Williams. According to him, if floating storage and unallocated barrels continue to accumulate, there will be a “sharp reduction in diesel exports.”
The EU’s ban on almost all maritime imports of diesel and other petroleum products from russia cut off the country from its main export market, the publication notes. If russian federation fails to find new buyers, exports will decrease. This, in turn, will lead to a reduction in global fuel supplies.
