(Reuters) – Russia is increasing its oil exports from its eastern home port of Kozmino by about a fifth, in an effort to meet rising demand from Asian buyers and offset the impact of European Union sanctions, three sources told Reuters.
Moscow said it hopes to divert energy exports from the West to Asia, but doing so with long tanker voyages from European ports is expensive and cumbersome due to Western sanctions over the Ukraine conflict.
Russian pipeline company Transneft has already increased the amount of crude oil pumped to Kozmino on its main Asian route, the East Siberia Pacific Ocean Pipeline (ESPO), by 70,000 barrels (bpd), using chemical additives to boost oil flow. he said on condition of anonymity.
Transneft did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Sources said Moscow also plans to ship an additional 80,000 bpd of so-called ESPO Raw Blend to Kozmino via the Meget railway, a route previously used to feed Kozmino and local refineries while the ESPO pipeline was being built.
The additional supplies will allow Kozmino to increase its total shipments from an average of 750,000 b/d so far this year to around 900,000 b/d in the coming months. In 2021 Kozmino loaded approximately 720,000 bpd (35.1 million tons) per day.
Two of the sources said ESPO’s oil exports through Kozmino are scheduled to hit an all-time high of around 880,000 bpd in July.
source: Noticias
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