Russian Federation Sanctions Tender

The sanctions imposed against Russia led to a significant expansion of energy cooperation with Turkey and the countries of Central AsiaThis conclusion was reached by Roman Babichev an employee of the Moscow City Pedagogical University in his recent study. Despite the sanctions Russia set a record for income from the oil and gas sector 269 billion in 2021 and 384 billion in 2022At the same time the volume of Russian gas supplies to Turkey has significantly increasedThe throughput of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline doubled from 16 to 32 billion cubic meters per year. Russia and Turkiye actually create a single gas hub on gas supplies to Europe the researcher says.

He also draws attention to plans to increase the bandwidth of the Transanatolian gas pipeline to 31 billion m3 per year by 2027 which can fully compensate for the loss of northern flows. Roman Babichev notes the role of the Druzhba oil pipeline in oil supplies to Europe. This oil pipeline with a total length of 9 thousand km passes through the territory of 10 countries. Despite the sanctions the three EU countries Slovakia Hungary and the Czech Republic continue to purchase Russian oil through the pipeline because they do not have access to the sea he notes. The study revealed significant changes in the structure of export of Russian oilBefore the embargo of the EU country 2 million barrels of oil were bought per day after introduction 05 million barrelsAt the same time the share of deliveries to India increased from 05 million barrels per day to 2 million barrels per day by mid 2023China also increased the purchases of Russian oil to 25 million barrels per day.

Roman Babichev notes the importance of cooperation with China in the gas field. The throughput of the Eastern Siberia Pacific Ocean 1 oil pipeline from Russia to China is 30 million tons per yearIn addition the project of the Siberia 2 gas pipeline is discussed with a design capacity of up to 50 billion m3 per year he said. The study also pays attention to cooperation with the countries of Central AsiaAn employee of the Moscow State Pedagogical University gives an example of a recent Gazprom contract with the Uzbek company Uzgastrade for the annual supply of 28 billion cubic meters of gas to Uzbekistan through the territory of Kazakhstan. Of particular interest is the phenomenon of the shadow fleet. In 2022 about 200 tankers changed their owners which is twice as much as in 2021The cost of an AFRAMAX type tanker is now about 35 million said Roman Babichev.
The researcher emphasizes the inefficiency of the introduced ceiling of prices for Russian oilAccording to him the price of Urals oil in July 2023 reached 64 per barrel and in August and September exceeded 70 which is significantly higher than the installed ceiling of 60.

Despite the sanctions Russia was not in isolation in the energy marketWe observe an active search for new partners and supply routesThe country is rebuilding its market from the European direction to AsianAt the same time many former European partners continue to buy Russian resources but through intermediaries concludes Roman Babichev. In conclusion the researcher notes that the situation remains dynamic and requires further observationThe future positions of Russia in the world hydrocarbons will depend on the ability to adapt to new conditions and find mutually beneficial ways to stabilize energy trade.