Bloomberg announced an increase in oil exports from Saudi Arabia and Iraq to Europe
Saudi Arabia and Iraq in connection with the sanctions of the European Union (EU) against raw materials from Russia are increasing oil supplies to the European market, writes US agency Bloomberg with reference to the tracking data of sea vessels.
Recently, oil exports from the Middle East to Europe as a whole have increased, supplies from countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq predominate, the publication said.
By pipeline and by sea
Saudi Arabia delivers oil via pipeline, the author noted. First, it sends tankers with export fuel to Egypt, from where the oil enters the Sumed pipeline, which connects the Ain Sokhna terminal on the Red Sea with the Mediterranean port of Sidi Kerir. Then the fuel is loaded into tankers and sent to buyers in European countries.
The agency clarified that more than one million barrels of oil per day came through the pipeline in July. This is twice the volume recorded in the same period in 2021.
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Iraq mainly uses the sea route and the Suez Canal for transportation. Tankers are sailing from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea. This month they were transporting about 1.2 million barrels of oil per day.
In total, the states of the Middle East in July supplied Europe with up to 2.2 million barrels per day. Experts recalled that this is almost 90 percent higher than in January 2022.
2.2million
barrels per day maximum supplied by the Middle East to Europe in July
Russian oil
The agency noted that growing volumes of Russian oil are flowing in the opposite direction, from Baltic and Black Sea ports to buyers in India and China. The publication’s experts do not undertake to predict whether the flows from the Middle East to Europe are sustainable. At the end of 2022, the EU embargo on Russian oil should come into force. Part of the package of sanctions includes a ban on insurance for the supply of Russian goods.
Now we see the redirection of these barrels from Asia to Europe. This is due to the fact that Europe is reducing the purchase of Russian barrels, while Russia at the same time sends its oil to Asia, a key market in the Middle East.
If the insurance ban hits all exports, as the US Treasury Department fears, it could again increase competition for supplies from the Middle East. The publication also pointed to the logistical problems that may arise after the refusal of Russian oil, as tankers will be forced to travel long distances.
According to Lars Barstad, Chief Executive Officer of Frontline Management AS, Europe’s demand for Middle Eastern oil is increasing the so-called ton-miles – approx. “Tapes.ru”).
The ton-mile of EU imports has at least doubled. A ton-mile of Russian oil has tripled, if not more
Prices will skyrocket
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Western states against plans to limit oil purchases from the country. According to him, otherwise the consequences will be exactly the same as in the situation with gas – fuel prices will rise significantly.
Now we hear all sorts of false ideas about limiting the volume of Russian oil, limiting the price of Russian oil. It’s all the same thing that happens in gas. The result, it is even surprising that people with higher education say this, the result will be the same – a rise in prices. Oil prices will skyrocket
Biden trip
The sixth package of anti-Russian sanctions of the European Union provides for, among other things, the gradual introduction of an embargo on oil imports from the Russian Federation. The ban will only affect deliveries by sea, and the fuel coming through the Druzhba pipeline is not subject to restrictions.
On July 16, US President Joe Biden completed his first tour as president to the Middle East. Following the trip, he said that the representatives of the United States and Saudi Arabia discussed the need for a sufficient supply of oil on world markets. Biden added that after his visit, he expects steps on the oil issue to be taken in the coming weeks.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, in turn, admitted that the country could increase oil production to a maximum of 13 million barrels per day. However, he did not give an exact time frame for achieving this goal.
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