Analysis and Studies - Products analysis
Import of crude oil: which countries depend on Russia?
March 10th 2022
In the recent context of Russian’s invasion of Ukraine, Russia has been often associated with potential shortages of gas for trading partners. The biggest source of revenues for the country, however, is actually oil. Trade equilibrium in this industry is changing: both US and Europe are considering a ban on Russian oil imports. Different resources and trade partners are being evaluated to make this move possible, ensuring at the same time an appropriate supply of oil in the American and European markets.
Russian Export and Top Importers of crude oil
But how big is really the Russian export market for this good? What are the main trade partners?
The greatest importer is, by far, China, which more than doubles the import value of the Netherlands, the second top importer. In 2020, these two countries had respectively the 32.8 and 13% of the total exports by the Russian Federation. Germany completes the top 3 importing countries with a total import value of more than 6.28 Bil Dollars.
It can be seen in the image below that USA are only at the 13° position. As it has been recently declared by members of the White House, going on with the sanctions would not be as harmful as for other countries. In 2020, USA imported less than 1 Billion dollars in value of crude oil from Russia.
Focus on European countries
In the top 20 importers, we can see 14 European countries, plus UK. The most important five are the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Italy and Finland.
The aggregate percentage of all the European countries’ imports is $34 Billion, half of the total Russian export value. In percentage terms, it accounts for around 48%.
Thus, a potential shortage of European imports of crude oil would damage heavily Russia, but also the same EU nations: that’s why Europe is evaluating cautiously this possibility.
Source: International Trade Centre