Russia’s RT channel reported that US daily Russian oil imports have reached a new high, despite acrimonious negotiations on many issues, including energy. In March, the country bought Russian crude oil and oil products in volumes not seen since 2009.
According to the latest data released by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), daily US crude oil imports from Russia reached nearly 23,000 million barrels, nearly doubling from the previous month.
According to the report, overall oil imports in March rose by 8,288 million bpd, or 20%. Meanwhile, daily oil exports increased only slightly by 0.2%, or 7.679 million barrels.
The surge in exports makes Russia its second-biggest supplier of oil after Canada, which has shipped 139,869 million barrels per day to the US across the border.
Mexico and Saudi Arabia are in third and fourth place, with daily supplies of 17,616 million barrels and 10,868 million barrels, respectively.
Russia remains one of America’s biggest strategic partners in the energy sector, despite lingering tensions between Moscow and Washington. The White House firmly criticized the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project led by Russia, and warned European allies not to be too dependent on Russian energy supplies. However, they themselves cannot do it.
US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has announced during a hearing at the House Science, Space and Technology Committee that natural gas extracted in Russia is said to be "the dirtiest in the world". The head of the US Department of Energy said that Washington considers the Russian gas pipeline "very dangerous", and she herself opposes the project.
Regarding this comment, Rustam Tankayev, member of the Energy Strategy Committee of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that Minister Granholm seems to be incompetent in energy matters or has politicized his statements. myself.
According to various analysis and consulting agencies, Russian gas supplied to Europe through the "Northern Stream" pipeline has almost four times less carbon emissions per kWh than gas supplied. Moreover, US liquefied petroleum gas (LNG) is dirtier than Russia’s because in the US oil and gas industry, most natural gas is produced from shale by cracking method. Hydraulic break should be lower quality, more impurities.
It is a fact that Russian oil has earned the trust of customers not only in Europe but also in America because of the quality of their products.
Remember in March 2019, two Korean refineries, SK Innovation Co. and Hyundai Oilbank Co. refused shipments of US shale oil, because it contained many impurities that interfered with the refining process.
The amount of oil delivered to SK Innovation Co. and Hyundai Oilbank Co. this time was exploited in January and February 2019 from mines in the Eagle Ford area, in southern Texas and the seller is BP Corporation.
However, the quality of the oil was deemed unsuitable because the amount of impurities in the oil was too high, hindering the processing process, so it was rejected. One of the refused shipments was taken out of the South Korean port of Yeosu by the oil tanker Olympic Luck.
It is worth mentioning that the main cause of US shale oil contamination is believed not to be the quality of shale oil, but to problems with storage and transportation of oil in the US.
It is the complex system of oil pipelines, oil storage facilities and US shale oil export ports that create the risk of fuel contamination during transportation and storage.
According to Bloomberg, the problem stems from a lack of infrastructure, so dozens of oil fields in the US are forced to use the same pipeline and the same oil storage for different types of oil.
As a result, exported oil is believed to be contaminated with residues from other fuels, or with chemicals used in tank cleaning or hydrocarbon stabilization.
Not only is the oil contaminated, but the condensate from US shale is dirty too. Hanwha Total Petroch Chemicals Co. once reflected that in the condensate from US shale there are impurities such as oxidation products, metals and detergents.
