As Russia cuts ties with European markets, North African countries have stepped up and started buying its diesel and other refined products in a big way, the Wall Street Journal reported Feb. 25 on its website.

The increased trade provides Moscow with a new source of revenue, but it also has the West worried about whether it is undermining Western efforts to tick Russian fossil fuels out of its economy.

European countries accounted for about 60 percent of Russia's refined oil exports before the war in Ukraine, and exports have fallen in recent months. The EU's ban on imports of Russian refined products - including products such as diesel and gasoline - took effect this month, in addition to measures to impose price limits on Russian sales of products in other regions. The measures follow similar sanctions imposed last December on imports of Russian crude oil.

The newspaper reported on the 23rd that the sanctions have largely had the desired effect, but have forced Moscow to shift exports away from Europe to other markets.

The North African country filled the gap.

Morocco, which imported about 600,000 barrels of Russian diesel for all of 2021, surged to 2 million barrels in January this year, with at least another 1.2 million barrels expected to arrive in the country in February, according to Kepler. Algeria and Egypt have also seen an upward trend in imports.

Tunisia, which likewise imported almost no Russian oil products in 2021, has imported large amounts of Russian diesel, light diesel, gasoline and naphtha - which are commonly used in the manufacture of chemicals and plastics - in recent months. The country imported 2.8 million barrels of Russian oil products in January and is expected to import another 3.1 million barrels this month.

The increase in imports by Tunisia and Morocco comes at a time when their own exports of refined oil products have also increased, raising concerns that Russian oil exports are being mixed with oil products from other countries and re-exported.

Victor Katona, a senior oil analyst at Kepler, said North African countries are importing too much oil for their own use. He expects that some Russian products will re-enter Europe.

For Russia, North African ports are ideal destinations for dumping diesel and other products that old Western patrons have shunned. For Russian ships sailing out of the Baltic Sea, the voyage to North Africa is relatively short, not much longer than the pre-war voyage to European ports. This allows Russia to maintain low transportation costs and avoid having its limited fleet of tankers trapped on long voyages to Asia or elsewhere.

Increased exports of Russian oil products to these countries have also created new sources of revenue for Russia. Asia has become its largest buyer of crude oil, but is less interested in the country's refined products, so forcing it to look elsewhere for buyers of diesel and other products.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)