As Russia seeks to offset the effects of Western sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has demanded that buyers of gas sold by Russia’s Gazprom pay in rubles.
Rosneft followed the example of Gazprom in carrying out Putin’s orders, requiring a 100 percent advance payment and transferring payments into rubles for the purchase of its oil.
Rosneft last week offered 6.5 million tons of crude oil through auctions for loading in May and June, seeking a full advance payment in rubles for the first time. But sources told Reuters it had failed to secure any sales as it was difficult to meet the terms of the sale.
Despite this, sources, citing the bidding documents, said that Rosneft requested the same conditions for the sale of its oil products. The sources said that Rosneft’s latest bid includes 4.4 million tons of oil products.
Most of the volumes of Rosneft’s oil products for loading in 2022 were sold to futures buyers, but many of them recently decided to reduce purchases of Russian oil products amid caution about Western sanctions and problems with payment and shipping.
The European Union has not yet imposed a ban on imports of petroleum products from Russian refineries, but it is studying options to reduce oil imports from Russia as part of its sanctions over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
#Russias #Rosneft #launches #auction #sale #oil #products #advance #payment #rubles