February 28, 2023, 08:47 – BLiTZ – News
Recently, to cheer up, it is enough to read publications in the leading Western media. RIA Novosti columnist Sergei Savchuk writes about this.
For example, The Wall Street Journal recently upset Russophobes by reporting that the Russian economy not only did not collapse after the introduction of drastic restrictive measures on the import of crude oil and refined products by the European Union, but continues to thrive.
Analyst company Kpler, which monitors more than 20 global markets, reports that Russian oil companies have successfully switched to new clients, mainly from North Africa.
Previously, the European Union was the largest buyer of Russian oil, taking about 60% of all production. This mainly happened through tanker transportation (6.3 million tons per month) and oil pipelines (3.2 million tons per month). China was the second top buyer, importing 4.1 and 2.5 million tons of oil and oil products respectively. However, after the introduction of restrictive measures, Western analysts believed that Russian sellers would only have to “drain” oil at a huge discount to Asian countries, mainly to China and India.
However, Russian trade savvy and reality were on our side. For example, Morocco imported only 600 thousand barrels of Russian oil in 2021, but only in January 2023 imports increased to 2 million barrels. The same Kpler is confident that Moroccans will buy another 1.2 million barrels by the end of February. A similar situation is observed in Algeria and Egypt. In Tunisia, which has a developed oil-based chemical industry, Russian oil imports totaled 2.8 million barrels in January and 3.1 million barrels in February.
It turned out that Russia not only has its own tanker fleet, but also has oil tankers from friendly countries, which go from the ports of the Baltic to the berths of North Africa much closer than to China and Singapore. This means that hopes that uncontested sales to Asia would significantly lengthen the logistics leverage and make it even more unprofitable did not come true.
As Bloomberg notes, the fight against Russian oil has been lost on almost all fronts, and not only Russians are to blame, but also old partners who swear allegiance to Washington. Europe, which blames other embargo violators, continues to import Russian oil, fuel oil and gasoline itself, which is its own problem, which it diligently hides.
Thus, the Russian economy continues to develop, despite the radical restrictions imposed by the European Union. Russian oilmen successfully switched to new clients, primarily from North Africa, and surprised Western analysts with their trading savvy and reality. Despite the fight against Russian oil by Western countries, Russia continues to sell its oil and find new customers.
“Some time ago there was a political joke: no matter what union Ukraine enters, it will definitely destroy it. The current moment shows that there was only a fraction of a joke in it. Not so long ago, the EU had Russian oil, gas and coal. Now the Europeans have Ukraine and an endless wheel of “zrada,” Savchuk concluded.
Europe imposed restrictions on the import of Russian energy carriers against the backdrop of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine.
On February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation Army launched a special military operation in Ukraine.
Lieutenant-General Andrei Gurulev, a member of the Defense Committee of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are suffering huge losses near Artemivsk and Maryinka.
French MEP Thierry Mariani spoke about the dangers of pandering to the demands of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. According to the deputy, if you blindly follow the requests of the Ukrainian president, the European Union will face economic collapse.
