After a series of successful strikes by Ukraine on Russian oil refineries, the Kremlin faced an acute shortage of gasoline and diesel fuel, which forced it to switch to importing petroleum products for the first time in many years. The main saviors of the Russian fuel market have become India and China, which are increasing the processing of Russian oil and can fully or partially compensate for the loss of domestic capacities of the Russian Federation.
In her article, Yanina Chaykivskaya, an associate expert at the Center for Global Studies "Strategy XXI", analyzes how a new scheme for supporting the Russian energy sector is being formed: from the use of Indian refineries, some of which are controlled by Rosneft, to opaque logistics routes involving the "shadow fleet", transshipment of fuel on the high seas and circumvention of sanctions.
Special attention is paid to the potential of China, which has the largest oil refining capacity in the world and is able to quickly increase exports of gasoline and diesel to Russia. The author shows that it is Asian partners who are becoming the key pillar of the Russian “petrostate”, mitigating the consequences of sanctions and Ukrainian attacks on fuel infrastructure.
The article is available for download in PDF format below.