Sharp increase in Russian oil shipments to China and India - Commerzbank

Russia continues to find sufficient buyers for its oil despite increasing pressure from the US, as shown by data on seaborne oil exports published by Bloomberg, Commerzbank's commodity analyst Carsten Fritsch notes.

Oil exports from Baltic ports also rise

"These rose by almost 30% to 3.5 million barrels per day in the last reporting week. The less volatile 4-week average rose to 3.15 million barrels per day. Shipments to China and India in particular increased significantly. Exports to China reached their highest level since the end of January at 1.6 million barrels per day."

"Oil deliveries to India compensated for the previous week's decline with an increase to 1.34 million barrels per day. Apparently, the price discount for Russian oil is too tempting for buyers in China and India. In addition, the loss of refinery capacity as a result of Ukrainian drone attacks means that more crude oil is available for export in Russia."

"The damage to pipelines and export ports was apparently less severe than feared. Oil exports from Baltic ports also rose, even though one port was the target of a drone attack and a pipeline to the port was also damaged."