Russia's ships half of all crude, oil product exports to China in 2023

MOSCOW. Dec 27 (Interfax) - China accounted for 50% of Russia's crude oil and oil product exports in 2023 and India accounted for 40%, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said in an interview with TV channel Rossiya 24 on Wednesday.

"China, whose share [of crude and oil product exports] grew to about 45-50%, and of course India have become the main partners in the current situation. Before there were virtually no shipments to India, [but] in the [past] two years the total share of shipments to India has amounted to about 40%," Novak said.

He said the share of shipments to Europe has decreased nearly 90%.

"If previously about 40%-45% of oil and petroleum products from total exports were sent to Europe, then by the end of this year we expect it will be no more than 4%-5%," Novak said.

He said Russian oil was being supplied to those countries for which the EU has made exceptions, for example, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Promising areas, Novak said, include interest in Russian oil from Latin American and African countries.

He said Russia was successfully building new transport routes, including the Northern Sea Route, on which 1.5 million tonnes of oil were transported for the first time in 2023.