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Russian crude exports to Asia reached their highest mark so far in 2022, according to Bloomberg data, as fresh European Union sanctions are set to begin December 5.
In the week ending November 4, shipments to buyers in Asia, which typically means ports in India or China, climbed to 1.94 million barrels a day on a four-week rolling average basis. An additional 127,000 barrels a day have unclear destinations, per Bloomberg. Those extra barrels are signaling Port Said or the Suez Canal, however most are expected to end up in India, and some in China.
Meanwhile, Russia's total crude exports climbed to 3.6 million barrels a day, a five-month high. Tankers that did not show final destinations saw the sharpest increase in volume.
Bloomberg reported the location that saw the largest jump in exports was the Arctic port of Murmansk, as it takes longer for ships leaving that terminal to reach Asian customers.
The spike signals that sellers are trying to complete as many deliveries as possible ahead of EU sanctions. An increasing number of ships more broadly are leaving Russian ports without reporting a final discharge point.
This also coincided with a slump in vessels marked with a final destination in India. Ships that haven't already departed are unlikely to reach discharge locations ahead of December 5 and are risk violating sanctions while still at sea.
Some exports out of Russia's Pacific ports can reach Chinese destinations in a matter of days, but deliveries to India from any of Russia's ports can take weeks.
Meanwhile, China's oil imports hit a five-month high in October, customs data shows, with Beijing allowing refiners to resell more crude abroad as a way to bolster the nation's faltering economy.
According to Bloomberg, the government issued quotas that allow Chinese firms and traders to export another 15 million tons of fuel from late September into early 2023.
