Russia's oil exports, from which European and US buyers shun, started to shift its destination to Asian countries by driving change in physical cargo movements, according to data from real-time energy cargo tracking company, Vortexa.
After a month of Russian assault on Ukrainian territories, the Western economic sanctions on Russian state and oligarchs started to impact the outgoing oil cargoes.
The most important repercussion that hit the oil imports so far in March is the shift in the destinations for Russian Black Sea and Baltic Sea crude, the energy tracking data by Vortexa show.
Russia's exports to Europe have fallen by around 280,000 barrels per day in between 1 and 22 March down to 1.3 million barrels daily. Exports to Asia, however, historically an unusual buyer of Russian Baltic and Black Sea crude, are up 220,000 barrels per day over the same period.
The share of Asia in Russian Baltic and Black Sea crude exports for March reached 25%, the highest since April 2020, the data showed.
China and India are the two buyers of recent Russian Baltic and Black Sea crude exports as Russian oil supplies account for 5% of Asia's total imports.
The data revealed that in February, 5.6 million per day of Russian seaborne crude and products, or 73% of the total, were exported to 'unfriendly countries' that Russia named.
The importers of Russian crude include pretty much all of Europe, but also the US, Japan, South Korea and Singapore.
Around 1.4 million barrels per day is estimated to be lost for March-loading cargoes, according to the data.
The main impact of the decreasing amounts of Russian exports are expected to reflect further in the coming weeks while exports to Asia are forecasted to rise steadily.
According to International Energy Agency (IEA), Russia is the third biggest oil producer in the world and the largest oil exporter.
However, the IEA forecasts Russian oil production may drop 3 million barrels per day starting from next month.
By Nuran Erkul Kaya
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr