Russia’s crude oil exports from its western ports are expected to decline by 8% in February compared to January's plan, as Moscow ramps up oil refining. Reuters' calculations indicate that exports dropped by 8% following recent US sanctions.

Millions of barrels of oil that would normally be preserve of oil refineries in Europe are instead heading to Asia as US sanctions on Russia revive one of the market’s great arbitrage trades.

In China, newly sanctioned tankers face delays offloading oil despite meeting waiver requirements. Three of them discharged Russian ESPO and Sokol crude during Jan. 15-17 while tanker Olia offloaded at Shandong's Yantai port on Sunday after carrying its ESPO cargo for nearly three weeks, according to LSEG data.

Russia's crude oil exports from its western ports in February are set to fall by 8% versus January's plan as Moscow increases refining, two traders said and Reuters calculations showed, after the latest U.

On Jan. 10 the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned 161 tankers and traders involved in about 2,000 shipments since the invasion began. It also acted against Moscow-based ship insurers and two companies — Surgutneftgas and Gazpromneft — which in the first 10 months of last year accounted for almost 30% of Russia’s oil exports.

Russia has continued to send cargoes of crude oil to India on tankers that have been sanctioned by the US, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.

"I will be 100% on board with taking sanctions up," Treasury Secretary-pick Scott Bessent told lawmakers on Thursday.

Trade for March-loading Russian oil in China and India has stalled due to soaring shipping costs triggered by U.S. sanctions introduced on Jan. 10, Reuters reported on Jan. 28. The sanctions target nearly 200 vessels in Russia's "shadow fleet,