The UK stopped importing oil from Russia well in advance of its year-end deadline.
A report from the country's Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that for the first time since records began, there were no fuel imports from Russia at all in June — that includes gas and coal, as well as crude and refined products. Russia was the UK's largest supplier of oil products in 2021, accounting for 24.1pc of imports in terms of value, and it also supplied 5.9pc of the UK's crude imports and 4.9pc of its gas imports, according to the ONS. Following the invasion of Ukraine, the UK government announced plans to phase out Russian oil and gas imports. In the case of oil, the deadline was set for the end of this year.
Tracking data from Vortexa also show an early halt to Russian oil imports, although slightly later than the ONS report suggests, with the last Russian diesel and fuel oil cargoes spotted arriving at UK ports in the first week of June. The last Russian crude to discharge in the UK was a 110,000t cargo of Novy Port for the 221,000 b/d Killingholme refinery in mid-April, according to Vortexa. The UK has continued to receive Kazakh CPC Blend crude, which loads at Russian Black Sea ports. Around 225,000t of CPC arrived at the 260,000 b/d Fawley refinery as recently as last month.
The UK has been replacing Russian fuel oil with extra volumes from Sweden, the Netherlands and Ireland — its second- third- and fourth-largest suppliers of the product after Russia last year. And it has been making up for lost Russian diesel supply mainly with imports from the Netherlands, the US, India and Sweden. The ONS notes that there have been increases in imports of refined products from Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, Belgium and Kuwait in recent months.
The UK has led Europe's large economies in weaning itself off Russian oil products. Unlike other major importers in the region, the country is no longer taking any term supplies from Russia. Argus understands that term contracts for Russian products were in place before the invasion of Ukraine. It is not clear whether these have expired or have been terminated. Most other countries in Europe continue to take term supplies from Russia ahead of the EU's embargo coming into effect next year. Meanwhile, spot demand for Russian products has mostly dried up across Europe, with the notable exception being Germany, where traders see few other viable options to ensure sufficient supply.
Germany has received a total of around 500,000t of diesel and gasoil from Russia so far this month, and nearly 800,000t of Russian diesel, gasoil and naphtha has arrived in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) hub, according to Vortexa. In both cases, it exceeds full-month volumes in August last year. France has received nearly 400,000t of Russian diesel and gasoil this month, in line with last August on an average daily basis.
