The director of the American research direction at the Energy Policy Research Foundation, Max Pizur, stated that the volume of Russian oil currently on maritime tankers is extremely significant and could supply certain countries with fuel for a period of up to six months.
This is reported by Finway
The Role of Russian Oil in the Global Market
According to Pizur, the amount of oil at sea is equivalent to approximately 50 large oil tankers. This allows some states to remain less dependent on fuel supplies through the Strait of Hormuz for the next 120–200 days. The main consumers of these reserves are China and India, as well as partially South Korea and Japan.
“This is a very large volume – equivalent to about 50 very large oil tankers,” said Pizur.
The analyst emphasized that about 21 million barrels of energy resources passed through the Strait of Hormuz daily, of which 14.5 million barrels were crude oil. However, one of the key challenges for the global economy is the shortage of petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel, aviation, and marine fuel. According to the expert, about 6.5 million barrels of these products were transported through the strait daily, and they are much harder to replace than crude oil.
The Impact of Petroleum Product Shortages and the Role of India
Pizur noted that the fuel shortage negatively affects the economies of Japan, China, India, Pakistan, and several African countries. India deserves special attention, as it has the world’s largest oil refinery, Reliance, near Mumbai, with a processing capacity of about 1 million barrels of oil per day. The petroleum products produced in India are exported to Europe, East Asia, and Australia.
Thus, European countries are effectively consuming a significant amount of Russian oil indirectly through the import of petroleum products from India. Additionally, it has been reported that the United Kingdom has allowed the import of diesel and aviation fuel produced from Russian oil, which also affects the situation in the energy market.