Novak announced the emergence of new buyers of Russian oil Russia

increased oil exports, including to the Asia-Pacific region, and is considering participation in new projects to diversify supplies,said Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak

Russia has new buyers of oil, and the volume of its supplies has increased in several directions, including to the countries of the Asia-Pacific region, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said.

“We see, of course, that there are new buyers, including an increase in the volume [of oil exports] to suppliers in other directions, including the Asia-Pacific region,” Novak was quoted as saying by TASS.

At the same time, he said that the authorities expect to restore the level of oil production in May after a decline in April. “We expect that the indicators in May will be partially restored and will be better,” he said.

Novak also said that in order to diversify oil supplies, Russia is considering participating in new projects, including the expansion of the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline to China .

Russia downgrades estimate of additional oil and gas revenues in May Economics

Earlier, Kommersant wrote that oil production in Russia over the 26 days of April decreased by almost 9% compared to March. In early April, Novak assumed that the decline could be 4-5% due to a change in logistics and possible problems with insurance and the use of ships.

In early spring, Western countries began to impose sanctions against Russia, which, among other things, provide for a ban on new investments in the Russian energy sector, as well as on the supply of equipment for it. Large-scale restrictive measures were also introduced against the largest Russian banks. 

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Because of the sanctions, the world's largest traders decided to reduce purchases of Russian oil and fuel from May 15, Reuters wrote, citing sources. The agency also wrote that Chinese state-owned energy companies are afraid of entering into new contracts for the supply of Russian oil due to Western sanctions. At the same time, private Chinese refineries have increased purchases of oil from Russia, which is sold at “heavy discounts,” wrote the Financial Times. The newspaper also attributed this to the fact that Chinese state-owned companies fear secondary sanctions.

In early March, the United States banned Russian oil and gas supplies . Similar decisions were also announced by Canada and the UK. The European Union is discussing an oil embargo on Moscow, but has not yet been able to agree on this decision, as several countries in the bloc, including the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Slovakia, express concerns about the measure, while Hungary strongly opposes it. The latter's foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, promised to prevent Brussels from imposing an oil embargo.

As part of the new sanction package, Brussels is also considering a ban on European vessels to provide services for the transportation of Russian oil, but this was opposed by Greece, Cyprus and Malta, for which the shipping industry is an important part of the economy. 

Finance Minister Anton Siluanov predicted that in the event of the EU abandoning Russian oil, Russian production in 2022 could be reduced by 17%. Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak had previously said that in the event of restrictive EU measures, oil prices could jump to $300 per barrel, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the EU oil embargo would “hit everyone.”

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