Two Russian Diesel Cargoes Bound for Brazil Pivot East Toward Egypt

At least two tankers carrying Russian diesel to Brazil have made unusual U-turns in the Atlantic and are now traveling east toward the Suez Canal as sellers are likely chasing spot sales where the fuel fetches higher prices, traders told Reuters on Monday.

Since the EU ban on imports of Russian oil products in 2023, Brazil has emerged as a key buyer of Russia’s diesel and other refined petroleum products.

But some supplies recently loaded at the Russian port of Primorsk on the Baltic Sea will not reach their original destinations in Brazil, according to tanker traffic data.

The Cameroon-flagged chemical tanker Flora 1, which departed from Primorsk on March 31, has turned away from its Brazilian destination and is now near Gibraltar en route to Port Said in Egypt, on the northern end of the Suez Canal, per data on MarineTraffic.

The Aurora oil product tanker flying the flag of São Tomé and Príncipe has also made a U-turn deep in the Atlantic and is headed east, currently at Gibraltar, too. The tanker had departed from Primorsk on March 22, originally showing Brazil as its destination.

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Two other tankers that loaded diesel at Primorsk earlier this month are currently stalled, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters, with the reason for the halt unclear.

The very unusual and abrupt change of course of the first two tankers suggests that sellers could be looking to capture higher-margin sales of the products east of the Suez Canal.

East of Suez markets in Asia were hit first by the crashing crude oil and fuel supply out of the Middle East. Diesel and jet fuel stocks have been rapidly depleting as many countries have banned fuel exports to protect domestic supply. At the same time, Asian refineries have cut run rates as supply from the Middle East collapsed.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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