Oil imports to Europe hit 2-year high

Europe is succeeding in diversifying its crude purchases ahead of the upcoming sanctions on Moscow, as its imports grew last month even as the share of Russian barrels shrank, Report informs referring to Bloomberg.

Crude and condensate arrivals in the continent - excluding Turkiye - surged in September to more than 8.46 million barrels a day, the highest monthly volume since January 2020, according to data from Vortexa Ltd.

Russia remains the top supplier of crude to Europe. However, the share of imports from the nation slumped last month to just 21%, down from an average of 34% in 2021.

Europe imported about 1.78 million barrels a day of Russian crude in September, a modest gain from the 1.69 million barrels a day in the previous month when shipments plunged to the lowest since at least the start of 2016, Vortexa data shows. At the same time, Europe’s imports of non-Russian crude barrels have steadily climbed this year to the most in data since 2016.