US President Donald Trump has imposed sanctions on Russia's largest oil companies. Consequently, buyers of Russian crude oil are looking for alternative suppliers. International media reports say the charter price of supertankers carrying oil has jumped and reached a five-year high.
The US recently announced sanctions against Rosneft and Lukoil, Russia's biggest oil companies, over its ongoing war. The sanctions came into effect on November 21. Indian and Chinese refineries that import from them have been contacted. Russia has cut its oil shipments, but imports from Middle Eastern and American producers have risen to fill the gap in demand.
The cost of carriers transporting 2 million barrels of oil from the Middle East to China rose to $137,000 a day last week. That's a 576% increase from the beginning of the year. This is the highest price since 2020.
Analysts point out that the importation of oil into our country from Russia may shrink significantly in the coming future, but they are unlikely to stop altogether. This year, our country imported an average of 1.7 million barrels of crude oil from Russia per day. Last month, imports could have reached 1.8 to 1.9 million barrels a day due to increased buying by refineries. However, imports may sharply fall in December and January. According to analysts, this may decline to about 400,000 barrels per day.
