According to a report released on Monday by Bloomberg, which cited the Russian Finance Ministry, Moscow generated more than twice as much profit as it did in April 2023 from oil revenue and taxes.
The review suggested that part of the increase was the result of the value of the national currency, the rubles, declining considerably, but an increase in oil prices and Russia’s continued ability to sell fuel outside of Europe, to pleasant places such as India and China, even contributed to the change.
In response to the United States ‘ and much of Western Europe’s decision to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia is now a target of a large sanctions program designed to thin its pockets. In late 2022, the European Union stopped importing Russian petroleum via water, which was formerly one of Russia’s top fuel clients, and even stopped imports of delicate pure immediately afterward. In an effort to impose price caps on Russian oil to reduce profits, the leftist administration of American President Joe Biden also spearheaded the effort.
In response, Russia greatly expanded exports to BRICS nation allies, most prominently China and India. Both China and India have substantial domestic oil reserves, but they have significant refining capacity to meet demand, making them eager buyers of Russian oil at lower prices.
Shell, the British energy giant, announced Tuesday that it will shut down all of its Russian oil and gas operations. https ://t.co/uPmjzEyVl4
— Breitbart News ( @BreitbartNews ) March 8, 2022
The Russian government’s oil tax revenue was the focus of the Bloomberg report’s focus on April revenue.
According to Bloomberg calculations based on data from the Finance Ministry, oil-related taxes contributed to the Russian budget’s revenues of 1.053 trillion rubles ($ 11.5 billion ) last month, up from nearly 497 billion rubles ($ 11.5 billion ) in April 2023. Total oil and gas revenues in April increased nearly 90 % year- on- year, to 1.23 trillion rubles, according to the data”.
Bloomberg listed both “rising prices for Russia’s crude” and” a weaker ruble” as factors and dismissed the price caps a having limited effects on the price of oil, as Russia has been “deploying , a shadow fleet of tankers and expanding the circle of non- western oil buyers” to avoid them.
According to Bloomberg, Russia will owe$ 126 billion in oil and gas tax revenue by 2024.
The dramatic increase in revenue from the previous year over the following year seems to be in line with expectations prior to the release of Finance Ministry statistics. Before April was over, Reuters reported on the industry website OilPrice .com on Monday that the company had predicted that “higher oil prices were expected to double Russia’s oil and gas revenues in April compared to the same month last year.” Additionally, it was noted that “lower oil prices and lower pipeline gas exports weighed on budget income from fossil fuels” in 2023 as both oil and natural gas revenues decreased from the start of the Ukrainian war.
Countries buying Russian oil in violation of the G7 price cap, which forbids nations from purchasing oil from Russia for more than$ 60 per barrel, are largely to blame for the rising prices observed by various oil sources. Price tracking data from mid-April showed that many buyers were paying an estimated$ 75 per barrel for Russian crude, and some more enthralled parties, like India, were willing to pay even higher prices for it.
Russian , Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak credited the country’s relationships outside of Europe for buoying Moscow’s oil profits in remarks in December.
” We previously supplied Europe with oil and oil products totaling 40 to 45 percent.  , This year, we expect the figure not to exceed four to five percent of total exports”, Novak explained at the time.  ,” China— whose share ( of oil exports ) has grown to 45- 50 percent — and India have become our main partners in the current situation”.
Indian leaders have vigorously defended their decision to continue to import Russian oil, insisting that the Indian people’s best interests are to be served by purchasing less expensive crude oil to refine locally and export abroad. A year after the initial full-scale invasion of Ukraine, reports emerged in February 2023 that India was making a profit from the sale of refined, likely Russian oil to America and Europe, which undermined the goal of the Western sanctions.
One of Germany’s ministers has acknowledged that a widespread EU-wide oil embargo could cause serious fuel shortages in many areas. https ://t.co/rBVFQxyB4P
— Breitbart News ( @BreitbartNews ) May 8, 2022
When Hardeep Singh Puri, the minister of petroleum and natural gas, inquired about purchasing Russian oil, he asserted that there was no moral conflict. ” We do n’t buy from X or Y. We buy whatever is available. I do n’t do the buying. It’s the oil companies who do the buying”.
S. Jaishankar, the Indian Minister of External Affairs, criticized the purchases in the same year and accused Europe of being hypocritical for purchasing Russian natural gas while denying Indian oil purchases.
 ,” If India buying Russian oil is funding the war — tell me, then, is buying Russian gas not funding the war”? he asked at an event in Slovakia. ” It’s only Indian money and Russian oil coming to India funding the war, and not Russia’s gas coming to Europe, not funding? Let’s be a little more even- handed … Europe is buying oil, Europe is buying gas”.
Russia has indicated on Sunday that it intends to increase trade with India through significant investments in Indian stocks and infrastructure projects, giving Moscow more flexibility in rupees.
” The two sides are still conducting most of their trade in their national currencies, with some payments for energy supplies being made in UAE dirhams”, the , Hindustan Times reported. The impact of Western sanctions on their trade is limited by the absence of the dollar. India has “been loath to make payments in the Chinese yuan,” according to the newspaper, despite the potential restrictions on using dollars.
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