China and India accounted for 91% of Russia’s crude oil exports in March as Western sanctions led the country to almost totally shift its trade routes from Europe to Asia, according to data from energy analytics company Vortexa compiled by Anadolu.
Russia’s oil and oil products exports totaled 6.75 million barrels per day (bpd) in March, rebounding from lower levels impacted by the sanctions since the start of the war in Ukraine.
Its crude oil exports, meanwhile, reached 3.38 million bpd out of the total in March, the highest level seen in the last 10 months.
Moscow found new ports for its crude oil and oil products especially in Asia after starting to lose its biggest export destination, Europe, due to the sanctions.
China’s crude oil imports from Russia hit 1.65 million bpd last month, overtaking India as the largest buyer of Russian crude. China imported 1.1 million bpd of crude from Russia in February.
China’s crude oil purchases from Russia have stood at over 1 million bpd since May 2022 while it remained below this level only in December 2022 with 769,790 bpd.
India, who has been buying high amounts of discounted Russian crude since the start of the war, imported 1.43 million bpd in March.
India’s crude oil imports from Russia have seen a dramatic uptick in the last year. Crude oil shipments from Russia to India jumped from 68,000 bpd in March 2022 to 1.43 million bpd in March this year, growing more than twentyfold.
