The countries of North Africa have become “insatiable buyers” of diesel fuel and other Russian-made oil products. This is written by The Wall Street Journal.
According to the newspaper, the EU is concerned about possible circumvention of restrictive measures.
In 2021, Morocco purchased approximately 600,000 bbl. diesel fuel, but only in January 2022, its imports increased to 2 million barrels.
Tunisia, on the contrary, almost did not buy Russian oil products in 2021, but in recent months it has been “absorbing” gasoline, naphtha, diesel fuel and gas oil. In the first month of 2023, this country purchased 2.8 million barrels of oil. oil products from Russia.
Surges in demand were also identified in Egypt, Libya and Algeria.
According to the newspaper, the increase in imports by Tunisia and Morocco of oil products from the Russian Federation coincided with the increase in their own exports of oil products. This has raised concerns in mixing and re-exporting products from Russia. The WSJ points out that this frustrates the efforts of Western countries to exclude Russian fuel from the economy.
According to Kpler analyst Victor Katona, North Africa imports too much fuel for its own needs. He stressed that experts do not observe “any kind of renaissance” in the oil refining of the Maghreb.
The newspaper notes that North African ports have become an ideal place for Moscow to export sanctioned products. The fact is that Russian ships coming from the Baltic Sea spend a little more time on their way to them than to the ports of Europe. This situation allows Russia not to face a significant increase in transport costs.
Source: Rosbalt
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
