Asia and Africa Oil Imports Jump to Record High on Cheap Russian Crude | OilPrice.com – OilPrice.com

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While Russian crude exports to Europe crashed in 2023, Russia’s shipments to Asia surged by 56% on the year, and soared by 144% to Africa, per Kpler data reported by Reuters columnist Gavin Maguire.
Asia is now the key outlet for Russian crude, with China and India taking most of the Russian oil cargoes. But many countries in Africa also imported Russian crude – at steep discounts – and those include Ghana, Libya, Tunisia, Togo, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Senegal, and even Nigeria, OPEC’s largest oil producer in Africa.
The discounts of the Russian crude grades relative to international benchmarks incentivized a lot of purchases from both Africa and Asia. Russia’s flagship crude grade, Urals, has been trading at a discount of around $20 per barrel to Dated Brent for most of last year.
Thanks to its lower-priced crude, Russia became China’s largest oil supplier last year, selling it a record 107.02 million tons of crude, according to Chinese customs data. The total amount equaled a daily import rate of 2.14 million barrels, far ahead of Saudi Arabia, whose oil exports to China slipped to an average of about 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2023, the data showed.