In the face of cuts in Russian oil purchases by European countries in retaliation for the invasion of UkraineRussian President Vladimir Putin Vladimir Putin has gone in search of other markets. Increased domestic consumption and sales to Asiahe has said, will compensate for the drop in shipments to Europe. Some of this has already been seen. Shipments from Western Russia's ports to the Asian market have gone from being virtually non-existent went from virtually non-existent before the invasion of Ukraine to totaling 875,000 barrels per day in early Aprilsays in one of his columns Julian Lee, oil strategist at Bloomberg First World.. This volume is equivalent to what Russia exported in aggregate daily to Germany, France, Greece, Italy and the UK before the invasion.

The strategy seems to be working, but it has a number of limiting drawbacks, Lee notes.Lee notes. Refineries are designed to process certain types of crude that cannot easily be substituted for other types of oil. Customers - India is a major buyer - are unwilling to risk their long-term relationships with their traditional suppliers, primarily from the Persian Gulf, which is also a constraint.

An additional factor is the pressure this strategy puts on the availability of tankers to transport the oil.. It takes a tanker a week to travel between a western Russian port and a Dutch or German port. It takes a month to reach the west coast of India. According to Lee, diverting all Russian crude shipments from the Baltics to India would require five to six times as many ships as those used on the original routes.

The way out is not easy for the Russian president.