Page 13 - RusRPTDec23

In August, Russia’s oil export revenues surged to $17.1bn, the International Energy Agency (IEA) reported, marking the highest level since October 2022 when Russian exports reached $17.3bn.
A tiny volume of oil continues to be sent to Europe to countries in Central Europe that have sanctions exemptions, including Poland, Hungary and Austria that may be paying below the cap. Also as bne IntelliNews reported more than year ago ahead of the imposition of the embargo, some Russian oil companies operate refineries based in the EU and sell themselves their own crude at below market prices as a ruse to reduce their tax payments to the Russian budget, which has had a noticeable impact on the budget revenues this year.
But the main problem is that the Kremlin and Russian companies have successfully almost entirely redirected exports to Asia – mainly China and India – which have ignored the sanctions completely. bne IntelliNews, like many observers, was sceptical the oil price cap could be enforced from the start and recently published an opinion piece saying that oil price sanctions are a spent cannon.
In addition to rerouting its oil exports, the Kremlin has been aided by Western companies, particularly Greek shipping companies, that have simply ignored the sanctions, and especially those operating in the Pacific Ocean. A study from The Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) and Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) found widespread cases of EU-flagged tankers simply ignoring the sanctions.
As a result, Russia’s oil revenues have been recovering in the second half of this year, in both and dollar terms KSE reports, and as predicted by Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov after twin set of large budget deficits were reported in December and January, to the point that the Kremlin is now earning more money from oil exports than it was before the war.
13 RUSSIA Country Report December 2023 www.intellinews.com