Suriyapong Thongsawang
- Russian fuel cargoes have been stuck in Sudan waters for over 2 weeks because it can't find any buyers.
- One ship carrying diesel-type products has sat in North African waters for over 20 days, per Bloomberg.
- India and China have snapped hefty amounts of Russian crude, but demand may be proving lackluster.
Russia's refined petroleum exports are struggling to find a home – so the cargoes are piling up in waters across the world.
The Adamas I ship, which took on Russian diesel-type fuel in late January, has been sitting off Sudan for over 20 days, Bloomberg reported Thursday citing Vortexa data.
Another vessel had to wait near the coast of Ghana for well over a week before offloading a similar cargo, the report said.
Russian fuel has been put into floating storage due to a lack of buyers, with as much as 1.9 million barrels of its diesel stranded at sea.
The buildup comes as European Union sanctions on Russian fuel products leave Moscow with a huge market to replace. The EU has banned imports of Russian refined oil products such as diesel, and it has imposed a new price cap, building on an embargo on seaborne Russian crude that began in December.
The constraints on Moscow's crude shipments have had an impact, too. Last month, Russian oil headed to for storage tanks in West Africa for the first time in five years, with one tanker arriving in Ghana carrying about 600,000 barrels.
And while Asian buyers in India and China have been snapping up hefty amounts of Russian crude supply, their demand may not be enough to soak up crude exports from one of the world's largest oil producers, according to ING analysts. That's despite Russia announcing it will cut its oil output by 500,000 barrels a day for March.
"Willing buyers in Asia, namely India and, to a lesser extent, China, have snapped up discounted crude oil cargoes, but increasing volumes on the water suggest the share of Russian oil in their import mix may be getting too big for comfort," the International Agency said in its monthly report for March.
It added that Russia's exports to world markets has dropped by more 7.5 million barrels per day.
With fewer buyers, Russia's oil and gas revenues have taken a hit, a sign the West's energy sanctions on the country are working. Moscow logged a nearly 50% drop in revenues in January, and it attributed the decline largely to a fall in prices of its flagship Urals blend.