India and Egypt have emerged as the top destinations for Russian seaborne fuel oil and vacuum gasoil (VGO) exports in April, according to traders and data from LSEG.
In total, Russian fuel oil and VGO seaborne exports fell in April by 10% month-on-month to about 3.32 million tons, as refining capacity idled due to maintenance, technical outages, and drone attacks. However, the overall exports increased by 13.6% from March.
The European Union’s full embargo on Russian oil products went into effect in February 2023, leading to a redirection of the bulk of Russia’s fuel oil and VGO to other regions, mostly Asia.
In April 2024, direct fuel oil and VGO shipments from Russian ports to India increased to 0.6 million metric tons from 0.4 million tons the previous month. Meanwhile, Russian fuel oil loadings to China decreased last month to about 450,000 tons from 660,000 tons in March.
China and India import straight-run fuel oil and VGO for refining, partially replacing more expensive Urals barrels, according to traders.
Fuel oil supplies to Egypt increased in April to almost 0.5 million tons from 0.1 million tons in the previous month, with all the cargoes discharged at the Ain Sukhna Terminal. Traders use the Ain Sukhna Terminal as storage and blending facilities, buying fuel oil for power generation ahead of the summer season.
Russian VGO and fuel oil loadings to Fujairah also increased in April to about 260,000 tons from 60,000 tons in March. However, fuel oil supplies from Russia to Senegal fell last month to about 100,000 tons from 310,000 tons in March, and loadings to Saudi Arabia decreased to 200,000 tons versus 490,000 tons.
Additionally, around 300,000 tons of VGO and fuel oil loaded in Russian ports in April went for ship-to-ship loadings near Greece and Malta, with most of those cargoes ending up in Asia, according to market sources.