China, Saudi Arabia top buyers of Russian oil in July

China and Saudi Arabia were the top destinations for Russian seaborne fuel oil and vacuum gasoil (VGO) exports in July, traders said and LSEG data showed on Friday.

Russian fuel oil and VGO seaborne exports last month rose 7% from June to about 4.05 million metric tons, helped by completion of seasonal maintenance on Russian refineries.

Russia’s offline primary oil refining capacity for July at 2.5 million tons was below June’s level by some 44%, according to Reuters calculations based on data from industry sources.

Since the European Union’s full embargo on Russian oil products went into effect in February 2023, countries in Asia have been the main destination for Russia’s fuel oil and VGO supplies.

In July direct fuel oil and VGO shipments from Russian ports to China rose by 18% month-on-month to 0.7 million tons.

China imports straight-run fuel oil and VGO for refining feedstock, pooling it with Urals crude oil, according to market sources.

Loadings to Saudi Arabia almost doubled from June to 0.7 million tons, mostly destined for power generation plants during the hot summer season when power consumption is peaking, Reuters calculations and LSEG data show.

Russian fuel oil and VGO supplies to India decreased 7% in July to 0.48 million tons, while “dirty” oil product shipments to Fujairah rose to 320,000 tons from 200,000 tons, and to

Turkey to 264,00 tons from 95,500 tons.

Fuel oil and VGO exports to South Korea from Russian Pacific ports increased to 118,000 tons from 36,200 tons in June, shipping data showed.

About 295,000 tons of VGO and fuel oil loaded in Russian ports in July went for ship-to-ship loadings near Greece and Malta. Most of those cargoes end up in Asia, market sources have said.