Transformation of the Russian Oil Industry in 2022-2023

The article examines the state of Russia’s oil industry over the period 2022 and 2023 as geopolitical changes shifted from one year to the next. The author notes that despite the sanctions pressure, Russia has successfully managed to reorient its oil markets towards Asia. Exports to India are the most actively developing; the ease of transition was due, among other things, to the availability of ready-made business in India: new refineries were built on the coast, for which oil was purchased from the nearest markets. In 2022-2023, India became the largest market for Russian oil delivered by sea. As for supplies via oil pipelines, China remains the largest consumer. Under these conditions, Russian companies have an opportunity use the competition between the countries to their advantage by reducing the discount on their products. The USA used to be the biggest buyer of Russian oil products until 2022, currently this role is taken by Turkiye. The state buys large volumes from Russia and then resells similar volumes to the EU countries. Despite the statements about different origin of oil products, formally the volumes of purchases and sales coincide. A significant role in the supply of Russian resources by sea is played by the shadow fleet, which began operating after the introduction of the «price ceiling». The fleet’s tankers have been bought off the world market by various companies that are registered offshore. There has been no reduction in production and exports due to technical problems caused by sanctions on the supply of equipment and technologies to Russia, or due to the withdrawal of Western oil service companies. Domestic structures quickly managed to establish a system of parallel imports, as well as to find alternative equipment in China.