Page 187 - RusRPTAug24

refinery. Pertamina also asked for Sokol oil among sweet oil grades such as Azeri BTC, El Sharara, Qua Iboe and others for arrival at Cilacap over Sept. 18-20. The Sokol is to be supplied under CFR or DAP (delivered at port) terms only, according to the tender.
Oil deliveries to Hungary and Slovakia from Russian oil giant Lukoil have come to a halt due to Ukrainian sanctions, media reported on July 18. Restrictions signed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy last month effectively banned Russia’s second-largest oil producer Lukoil from using Ukraine as a transit hub. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said late Tuesday that Lukoil was “not currently delivering to Hungary” due to a “legal situation in Ukraine.”
China's total fuel oil imports slipped 11% in the first half of 2024, data showed on Saturday, amid a backdrop of weak refining margins and poor fuel demand. The imports totalled 11.95mn metric tonnes, or about 75.88mn barrels, data from the General Administration of Customs showed. Chinese refiners typically purchase fuel oil as a refining feedstock, with imports surging to a decade high in 2023 after independent refineries boosted purchases of discounted oil blended from Russian barrels. Buying has cooled off this year, however, with monthly imports sliding towards the end of the second quarter. June imports totalled 1.49mn metric tonnes, 31% lower than May and 45% down from a year earlier, according to General Administration of Customs data. Higher crude prices and weaker refined fuel demand have weighed on refining margins and dampened appetite for feedstocks.
Russia once again became the largest supplier of oil to China and India in May, according to the July OPEC report. According to the data from analytical agency Kpler, cited by OPEC, Russia provided 41% of oil supplies of India’s total imports in May, as in the previous month. Iraq provided 21% of oil supplies and Saudi Arabia - 11%. India's total oil imports in May fell by 1% from April to 5.1mn barrels per day (bpd). In addition, according to OPEC, Russia provided 19% of China's total oil imports in May, down from 21% a month earlier. Saudi Arabia accounted for 16% of supplies, Malaysia - for 12%, and Iraq - for 11%. Overall, OPEC estimates that China's oil imports increased by 2% in May compared to April, reaching 11.1mn bpd.
OPEC reported that Russia reduced crude oil output by 114,000 bpd to 9.139mn bpd in June 2024, though its production exceeded the plan within OPEC+ agreements by 161,000 bpd. Production amounted to 9.301mn bpd in April, 9.253mn bpd in May, with Q1 and Q2 average reaching 9.431mn bpd and 9.231mn bpd, respectively. That said, considering all voluntary output cuts within OPEC+ agreements Russia was to slash production to 8.978mn bpd last month. Thus, Russia exceeded the oil production plan by 161,000 barrels per day.
Russia and China are exploring the possibility of Chinese companies to
187 RUSSIA Country Report August 2024 www.intellinews.com