Posted on May 3, 2022
Russia Could Sell More Energy to Asia, but Has to Slash Prices
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Last year, the Grand Aniva, a Russian tanker with four spherical tanks for holding ultracold liquefied natural gas, sailed back and forth between a gas field in eastern Russia and depots in Japan and Taiwan. But two days after Russia invaded Ukraine, the ship switched routes, sailing to China instead.
The voyages of the tanker, which is as long as three football fields, underlined that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia can still find buyers in Asia for his country’s fossil fuel exports despite Western sanctions. He needs to look for buyers as governments exact more pressure on his country to try to stop its war in Ukraine, including an expected move in the next several days by the European Union to gradually halt imports of Russian oil.
Mr. Putin called on April 14 for his country “to redirect our exports gradually to the rapidly growing markets of the South and the East.” Two obvious destinations are China, the world’s largest energy market, and India, the world’s third largest. (The United States is No. 2 in energy use.)
The voyages of the tanker, which is as long as three football fields, underlined that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia can still find buyers in Asia for his country’s fossil fuel exports despite Western sanctions. He needs to look for buyers as governments exact more pressure on his country to try to stop its war in Ukraine, including an expected move in the next several days by the European Union to gradually halt imports of Russian oil.
Mr. Putin called on April 14 for his country “to redirect our exports gradually to the rapidly growing markets of the South and the East.” Two obvious destinations are China, the world’s largest energy market, and India, the world’s third largest. (The United States is No. 2 in energy use.)
Russia Could Sell More Energy to Asia, but Has to Slash Prices
Posted from nytimes.com
Oil and Energy
Russia
China
India
Posted 2 y ago
Responses: 2
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Russia is already increasing natural gas shipments to China through a recently completed Siberian pipeline. But because Russia’s Siberian gas fields are not linked by pipelines to Russian gas fields supplying Europe, there are severe limits on Russia’s ability to shift gas sales to China.
Still, trade between Russia and China, much of it Russian energy exports, jumped nearly 30 percent in the first three months of this year compared with a year earlier. That increase “fully demonstrates the great resilience and internal dynamism of cooperation between the two countries,” Le Yucheng, a Chinese deputy foreign minister, said in a statement last month. “No matter how the international situation changes, China will, as always, strengthen strategic coordination with Russia.”
Russia’s market position might improve in the autumn. Much of Russia’s oil is very heavy, producing extra diesel when refined. Russia exported more than 10 times as much diesel as gasoline last year, data from Russia’s Federal Customs Service shows.
The world’s main diesel market is China, with nearly twice as many heavy-duty trucks in operation as the United States. Coronavirus lockdowns have paralyzed much of China’s fleet in recent days, especially in and around Shanghai.
Diesel demand in China could completely reverse by autumn. Beijing is turning to its favorite tactic in previous economic slowdowns: enormous investment in the construction of more rail lines, roads, bridges and other infrastructure.
All of that construction will require huge fleets of diesel-guzzling trucks, excavators, pile drivers, bulldozers and other equipment."
..."Russia is already increasing natural gas shipments to China through a recently completed Siberian pipeline. But because Russia’s Siberian gas fields are not linked by pipelines to Russian gas fields supplying Europe, there are severe limits on Russia’s ability to shift gas sales to China.
Still, trade between Russia and China, much of it Russian energy exports, jumped nearly 30 percent in the first three months of this year compared with a year earlier. That increase “fully demonstrates the great resilience and internal dynamism of cooperation between the two countries,” Le Yucheng, a Chinese deputy foreign minister, said in a statement last month. “No matter how the international situation changes, China will, as always, strengthen strategic coordination with Russia.”
Russia’s market position might improve in the autumn. Much of Russia’s oil is very heavy, producing extra diesel when refined. Russia exported more than 10 times as much diesel as gasoline last year, data from Russia’s Federal Customs Service shows.
The world’s main diesel market is China, with nearly twice as many heavy-duty trucks in operation as the United States. Coronavirus lockdowns have paralyzed much of China’s fleet in recent days, especially in and around Shanghai.
Diesel demand in China could completely reverse by autumn. Beijing is turning to its favorite tactic in previous economic slowdowns: enormous investment in the construction of more rail lines, roads, bridges and other infrastructure.
All of that construction will require huge fleets of diesel-guzzling trucks, excavators, pile drivers, bulldozers and other equipment."
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
SGT (Join to see) Sounds Like China and India are Getting Nickles, Pennies on a Dollar of Russian Oil, Natural Gas! Bleed Russia Dry! Works for Me! Not Like an Old NSA Spook Holds any Animosity for a KGB Agent! LOL!
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL Attacking Ukraine is Going to be Very Expensive for Putin and Russia. Selling their Oil at a Heavy Discount? Like it Should Be, Stupidity is Expensive!
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL Like Many "Emperors" that came before Putin, He Viewed "Expansion" as a way to Distract from Internal Problems. We'll See How It Works Out for Him!
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