Saudis Turn to Russian Fuel Oil as Iran War Saps Fossil Power Supplies

Saudi Arabia continues to snap up high volumes of Russia’s fuel oil as the Hormuz crisis has forced shut oil and gas wells and reduced domestic supply for power generation amid rising temperatures.

Russia’s vessel shipments of fuel oil and vacuum gasoil (VGO) slumped in May by some 6% from April, due to the continued Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, Reuters reported on Monday, quoting shipment data on LSEG and traders.

Despite the overall decline in Russian fuel oil exports, to about 3.2 million metric tons last month, Saudi Arabia remained the single biggest buyer, accounting for more than a third of all Russian fuel oil shipments.

These stood at 1.23 million tons in May, down by 17% compared to April, but at still relatively high levels compared to before the war.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude oil exporter, became the leading buyer of Russian’s fuel oil two years ago, after the EU full embargo on Russian oil products came into effect in 2023.

Since then, Saudi Arabia has consistently bought high levels of fuel oil from Russia.

But the Saudi imports took off in March 2026, rising by 18% from February, after the Iran war and the Hormuz crisis forced massive shut-ins of oil and gas production in Saudi Arabia and all other producers in the Middle East. The Saudis, which use a lot of direct crude burn for power generation, turned to Russian fuel oil, which was de-sanctioned by the U.S. as the conflict raged.

By importing fuel oil from Russia, Saudi Arabia left more of its crude available for exports, via the Yanbu port on the Red Sea that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz.

Within weeks of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Saudi Arabia had managed to hike its East-West pipeline flows from about 2 million barrels per day (bpd) to 7 million bpd, to keep its exports via the Red Sea, despite the closed Strait of Hormuz.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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