India and China, the main buyers after the introduction of Western sanctions, are already refusing to accept oil carried by sanctioned tankers.
Russian oil companies operating in the Arctic are facing major problems due to a new package of US sanctions. The sanctions affect at least 15 tankers and two floating storage facilities used to transship Arctic oil. It was reported by Reuters.
Gazprom Neft, which operates the Novoportovskoye field and the Prirazlomnaya offshore platform, as well as Lukoil, which will develop the Timan-Pechora fields, may suspend oil production due to the impossibility of transporting it to customers.
Sources report that the amount of Arctic oil produced is 300 thousand barrels per day – almost 10% of all sea exports of the Russian Federation.
India and China, the main buyers after the introduction of Western sanctions, are already refusing to accept oil carried by sanctioned tankers.
Storing oil in tanks is a temporary solution, but their volume is limited and there is no infrastructure to pump it into Russia’s pipeline system. Thus, the sanctions threaten to stop production at the Novoportovskoye field, the Prirazlomnaya offshore platform and the Timan-Pechora fields that produce Novy Port, ARCO and Varandey varieties of Arctic oil.
In the past, these varieties, due to their high quality, were bought by European refineries, and after the outbreak of a large-scale war – by India and China. However, now, due to the new US sanctions, these countries are looking for alternatives, especially, Indian oil refiners are considering buying WTI oil from the US.
Let’s remember that the day before the United States initiated large-scale sanctions against Russian oil and Russia’s “shadow fleet”.
Source: korrespondent
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