NEW DELHI: Analysts doubt that Russia will be able to release as much diesel as US President Donald Trump is expecting.
Russia was previously the world’s second-largest diesel exporter after the US. But Russian diesel and gas exports in the third quarter of this year were at 190,000 barrels per day compared with 690,000 barrels per day in the second quarter and 850,000 barrels per day in the first quarter, explained Michelle Wiese Bockmann, a maritime intelligence analyst with the shipping analytics company Windward, citing data from the commodities tracker Vortexa.
Russia, therefore, banned diesel exports in July in a bid to meet domestic demand and in late September expanded the ban until the end of October.
Ukraine’s attacks on Russian energy facilities have also contributed to the fuel crisis in Russia. Putin has admitted that 1 per cent of Russia’s gross domestic product has been affected by Ukrainian attacks.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence said its air strikes have destroyed more than half of Russia’s oil refining capacity. In July, it also struck hundreds of Russian shadow fleet tankers in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, affecting the delivery of gas to Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
