“Since December, some 6.3 million to 6.9 million barrels of Urals — the nation’s flagship grade — were carried on smaller tankers through European waters and the Suez Canal to the Red Sea, then transferred to four very-large crude carriers, data from tracking platforms Vortexa Ltd. and Kpler show. That maritime area isn’t a well-established spot for at-sea transfers.”
“The ship-to-ship transfers — and use of larger VLCCs — point to a shift in buyers’ profiles, with Beijing taking more, while Indian refiners have scaled back, according to Vortexa. ‘This would signal a growing reliance on China as the primary outlet for Russian Urals,’ said analyst Anna Zhminko.”
“The shift is apparent in the volumes. Deliveries of Russian crude to Chinese ports rose to 2.09 million barrels a day in the first 18 days of February, tracking data show. The rise — from 1.72 million barrels a day in all of January and 1.39 million in December — has more than offset a drop from India.”
“It makes commercial sense to use a VLCC, given the far greater distance from Russia to China. The larger ships can also serve as more economical floating storage if no buyer for the cargo can be found.”