OREANDA-NEWS  In the first nine months of 2024, Russia and Saudi Arabia reduced offshore oil supplies to Asia. The fact that the region began to buy less energy resources, with reference to Vortexa data, Kommersant reports.

The share of Russia and Saudi Arabia in total supplies decreased from 14.6 to 14.1 and from 22.7 to 21.4 percent. Since the beginning of the year, shipments from the two countries have fallen to 3.24 million and 4.93 million barrels per day (minus five and seven percent, respectively). At the same time, the UAE (a share of 13 percent), Iraq (10 percent) and the United States (7 percent) increased supplies by 250 thousand barrels per day.

According to Argus, OPEC+'s efforts to limit oil production, the lack of Saudi oil on the market and its high cost led to a decrease in import volumes.

Asian imports by sea decreased by 1.8 percent to 22.98 million barrels per day. China, the world's largest oil importer, had the strongest decline in supplies, reducing purchases by 410 thousand to 9.89 million barrels per day. The reason was the crisis in the country's construction sector, which negatively affects the volume of diesel fuel consumption, as well as the transition of trucks to LNG and subsidizing electric cars.

Earlier, Bloomberg reported that Russian oil exports to Asia reached the highest level in the last five months, with a total of 95 percent of the raw materials sent abroad by sea going there.

According to the results of the week ending October 20, the average volume of Russian oil exports over the past four weeks (best demonstrates the dynamics of supplies) increased by 140 thousand barrels per day, to 3.47 million, which was the highest since the end of June. The trend is observed against the background of a drop in refining volumes at Russian refineries to a minimum in more than two years.