The oil market has shown its flexibility
Crude quality playing key role in oil flow reshuffle
The war in Ukraine has rerouted oil market flows as European buyers look both close to home and far afield for replacements for Russian barrels
The oil market has shown its flexibility and adaptability to changing crude flows since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine one year ago. Europe had to not only find new sources of supply but also try to replace medium sour Russian barrels with relevant substitutes with similar attributes. Crude quality has been a crucial if often understated challenge for refiners as key grades have been rerouted. Europe was heavily reliant on Russian oil when Moscow began its war in Ukraine. Before the invasion, Russia supplied almost a fifth of Europe’s seaborne crude oil imports, with this figure having dropped to around a tenth by time the EU had imposed sanctions in December 2022. “When the West decided to r
Also in this section
13 April 2026
Petroleum Economist analysis highlights sharp shift from crude oversupply to market deficit, with Iraq and Kuwait badly affected and key producers Saudi Arabia and the UAE also seeing output sharply lower
13 April 2026
Turkmenistan is moving ahead with a modest expansion of the giant Galkynysh field to sustain gas deliveries abroad, but persistent delays to other key pipeline projects and geopolitical risks continue to constrain its export ambitions
13 April 2026
Expensive electricity has forced out swathes of energy-intensive industry and now threatens the country’s ability to attract future investment in datacentres and the digital economy
13 April 2026
For GCC producers, the ceasefire may prove more destabilising than the war itself: exports remain constrained, and control over Hormuz has shifted in ways that could endure
