Despite the sanctions aimed at restricting the export of russian oil, russia continues to receive high oil revenues, writes Andrian Prokip, Doctor of Economic Sciences, head of energy programs of the NGO "Ukrainian Institute for the Future".
For the aggressor country, this is one of the main items of financing the war against Ukraine. These financial revenues are largely provided by the activities of the so-called shadow fleet, a network of tankers with opaque ownership that operate outside international control.
As Andrian Prokip points out, it is the shadow fleet that plays a key role in maintaining russia's revenues and allows it to continue financing the war against Ukraine.
"After all, these vessels carry out oil deliveries bypassing sanctions and price restrictions (USD 60 per barrel of oil, USD 100/bar for petroleum products traded at a premium to the price of oil, such as gasoline and diesel, and USD 45/bar for petroleum products, which trade at a discount from the price of oil, such as fuel oil). In fact, this is exactly what allows the aggressor to keep income and continue to finance the war against Ukraine," Prokip writes.
Prokip also emphasizes that the number of sanctions applied to shadow fleet vessels remains very small and their effectiveness is often illusory.
"In this way, a loophole has been created for the aggressor to make a relatively quiet profit from its key resource - oil. At the same time, the russians are constantly adding new vessels to this fleet, thereby nullifying the effectiveness of the existing sanctions," Prokip writes.
In addition, Prokip draws attention to other factors that allow russia to maintain high oil revenues.
"China, India, and Turkey have become key consumers of russian oil. The demand in these countries is so great that they can take all russian oil if needed and at a favorable price," Prokip writes.
He also added that the agreements within OPEC+ contributed to the growth of world oil prices, which allowed russia to compensate for the costs of more complex logistics.
"And this, in turn, compensated for the higher logistics costs of delivering oil to China and India. And logistics really became more expensive: one thing to deliver from the ports of the Baltic and Black Seas to Europe, and another - to India and China. Although, near these countries there are ports that supply russian oil, including ESPO, which is of higher quality than the key russian oil brand Urals," Andrian Prokip notes.
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