Russia, making a strategic shift towards fast-growing Asian markets, said
yesterday it plans to ramp up eastbound oil exports next year, squeezing
supplies to Europe as production is expected to plateau in the years
ahead.In so doing, the Kremlin is staking a claim to the dynamic
Asia-Pacific region while also boosting the price it can command in Europe for
its Urals Export Blend crude, which now often trades at a premium to North Sea
benchmark Brent.Deputy energy minister Kirill Molodtsov said that Russia,
the world’s top oil producer, planned to increase oil exports via the Pacific
port of Kozmino to 30m tonnes (600,000 barrels per day) next year from the 21m
tonnes expected to be shipped this year.“The balance between West and East
will change,” Molodtsov told reporters, without specifying the expected impact
on exports to Europe.Russia, the world’s second-largest oil exporter after
Saudi Arabia, ships around 3.5m barrels per day (bpd) to Europe, about a third
of its total crude output.Together with its export pipeline to China and
East Siberia-Pacific Ocean route to Kozmino, Russia will export around 750,000
barrels per day to Asia in July to September, or 17 per cent of its overall
exports of 4.4m bpd.That shift reflects a long-term bet in particular on
growing demand in China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer after the
United States. Chinese oil demand is forecast to grow by 3.9 per cent to around
10.3m bpd in 2014, the International Energy Agency said yesterday. Last
month, Russia’s top oil producer Rosneft agreed to more than double oil
shipments to China and has already increased plans for crude supply in the third
quarter at the expense of Europe.Molodtsov forecast Russian oil production
at 518-520m tonnes (10.40-10.44m bpd) over the next three years. That is a touch
below June oil output of 10.53m bpd – a post-Soviet high.
WORLD SHIPPING
12 July 2013 - 19:43
Europe squeeze as Russia lifts oil exports to Asia
Russia, making a strategic shift towards fast-growing Asian markets, said yesterday it plans to ramp up eastbound oil exports next year, squeezing supplies to Europe
WORLD SHIPPING
12 July 2013 - 19:43
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