Russia finds the ships to access new product markets

Refining runs and questions over blending—not vessel availability—are likely to determine Russian product export volumes

The EU’s ban on imports of Russian products came into force on 5 February, prompting the latest phase in the global reshuffling of hydrocarbon trade since the invasion of Ukraine. Some in the market have questioned whether there would be enough tankers willing and able to transport Russian products, but so far access to ships does not seem to be a constraint on the pariah state’s exports. The shift since the start of the product import ban has been “stark”, says shipbrokers EA Gibson, with Russia “relatively successful" in finding new markets for more than 1mn bl/d of clean products. And this Russian trade is profitable for shipowners, says Ioannis Papadimitriou, senior freight analyst at an