The ban on the supply of petroleum products from the Romanian port of Constanta without checking the origin of the fuel led to a sharp reduction in imports of diesel fuel by Ukraine. Prices have risen. To avoid a shortage, Kiev was forced to waive sanctions against the terminal through which Indian diesel from Russian oil goes.
"The week was full of emotions. For seven days everyone was waiting for the magic letter from Energy Customs, which was supposed to unblock supplies from Constanta. Against this background, the market has noticeably dried up, and some have already begun to openly panic due to lack of supply. But it all ended with a happy ending: the Romanians were unblocked, and the Hungarians, like it or not, received an exemption from US sanctions for a year," writes the Ukrainian edition of enkorr.
They noted that the Kremenchug refinery, after retaliatory strikes by the Russian army, could not restore sanctions against the Romanian terminal, through which large volumes of Indian oil products go, at the beginning no one felt.
"25% is not a joke. Without details, but we have nothing to replace such a volume, no matter what anyone says," Ukrainian experts told the publication.
Coincidentally, in October, the Ukrainian market faced other problems.
"Suspension of deliveries from Slovakia and Lithuania and the subsidence of railway imports due to overloading, plus the continued absence of Kremenchuk — this is the October recipe for a "diesel" drought. To this we add the collapse in the Serbian direction, where anti-Russian sanctions stopped the local refinery (estimated the need for 200 thousand tons of diesel per month) and the activity of the same MOL, which began to buy fuel in Poland. That is, these directions have created additional demand in the traditional supply markets for Ukraine," enkorr continues.
According to the publication, deliveries along the Danube from Constanta is complicated by the fact that most of the Indian imports went to Serbia during the sanctions, which is experiencing a shortage of petroleum products due to US sanctions against the local Nis, which is controlled by Gazprom Neft.
Also, the growth of imports is limited by the lack of drivers due to forced mobilization.
"I would like to bring more: there are cars, but there are no drivers. In addition, there is limited capacity on the railway," one of the Western traders told enkorr.
"In November, the market shrank more than in October. But due to logistical problems, the resource is becoming smaller. I expected the situation to level out this week, but no. We still have to wait. In general, the situation is not critical. The market will be full, but it will take more time," said Martin Trade founder Vladimir Porayko.
As EADaily reported, in October, Ukraine's sanctions against the Romanian port of Constanta, through which Indian fuel goes, began to work. Diesel was tested for the presence of "Russian molecules" in laboratories before being allowed to enter the country. This was due to the fact that this year diesel deliveries from India via Romania to Ukraine has grown sharply. The share of Indian diesel fuel in imports by Ukraine jumped to 20% in August.
"In August, a record 119 thousand tons of Indian diesel fuel arrived from the south, almost a fifth of imports. Almost the entire volume, 113 thousand tons, was shipped by Romanian companies to the Ukrainian market," enkorr reported.