China, India, Turkey Remain Top Buyers of Russian Fossil Fuels

Ukrainian drone strikes have hit Russian oil hard in August – but not fully drained Moscow’s war chest.

In August, Russia’s fossil fuel exports were lower than July, both in revenue and volume. Revenue was €604 million ($697 million) a day, an 8% month-on-month decrease, according to a report by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).

During the same month, Russia also imported a record volume of seaborne oil products since its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine began.

Who are the top buyers?

China was the top buyer of Russian fossil fuels in August, giving Moscow a total revenue of €8.4 billion ($9.7 billion), according to the CREA.

India was the second-largest importer at €4.8 billion ($5.5 billion), followed by NATO member Turkey at €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion).

The EU was the fourth-largest buyer of Russian fossil fuels, at €1.2 billion ($1.4 billion).

The EU’s imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) fell to their lowest level since 2022, partly due to EU sanctions. Still, France imported €190 million ($219 million) worth of LNG. Hungary was the EU’s largest buyer, importing €386 million ($445 million) of pipeline gas.

And despite the EU’s import ban on oil products made from Russian crude, 20 shipments from refineries in Turkey, India and Georgia that process Russian crude oil were unloaded at EU ports in August, two more than in July. Italy and Cyprus took five cargoes each, according to the CREA.

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Ukrainian strikes on oil refineries

The CREA said Russia’s seaborne crude revenues were down 13% from July.

Drone strikes around Russia’s Black Sea city of Novorossiysk had a big impact: The port could not load cargo for nine days, and August loadings there were 58% lower than the month before.

The port of Tuapse has not been exporting oil products since May, the CREA added. At the end of May, the oil refinery in Tuapse was hit by Ukrainian drones.

In August, Ukraine carried out several strikes on Russian oil refineries. Drones struck the TANЕCO oil refinery, the Perm oil refinery and the Novokuibyshevsk refinery.

The Orsknefteorgsintez refinery in Orsk had to fully close due to Ukrainian attacks, and repairs could take up to six months. In September, numerous attacks were executed by Ukraine, including the recent attack on the Saratov oil refinery.