FX.co ★ Who buys Russian oil

Litasco

Sum of contracts: $12.9 billion

Cooperates in Russia with Lukoil, Surgutneftegaz, and Bashneft-Polus.

Points of purchase: Primorsk, Ust-Luga, Varandey, Kozmino, and Komsomolskaya pumping station.

Litasco retained the lead in the ranking of the largest buyers of Russian oil.

Sale of Bashneft to Rosneft did not affect the cooperation of the first one with Litasco. The company retained contracts with Bashneft-Polus and in the past year bought 1.8 million tons of oil from the Trebs and Titov oil fields.

At the moment, the fate of Litasco is in question. Lukoil intends to sell its affiliated company.

China National United Oil Corporation

Sum of contracts: $11 billion

Cooperates in Russia with Rosneft and Transneft.

Points of purchase: Kozmino port, Dzhalinda (border of Russia and China), Alashankou checkpoint (the border of Kazakhstan and China).

For the second consecutive year, Russia becomes the largest importer of oil in China. Chinaoil is one of the largest buyers of raw materials from Rosneft. In 2017, in China, oil imports increased by 10.2% to 419.6 million tonnes; import of Russian oil - by 13.8% to 59.7 million tons. Chinaoil, in addition to the Russian market, also sells and purchases oil and oil products in the western and Middle Eastern markets.

Rosneft Trading

Sum of contracts: $8.3 billion

Cooperates in Russia with Rosneft, NNK, and Tatneft.

Points of purchase: Primorsk, Novorossiysk, Ust-Luga, Kozmino, Yeosu (South Korea), Adamova Zastava (Poland).

Rosneft's export volumes through Rosneft Trading increased by 16.4 million tons in 2017, and the total cost of contracts added $6.6 billion. At the same time, the trader sells not only oil of the parent company. Since 2016, it has been supplying gasoline to the Indonesian state-owned company, Pertamina. In the same year, a contract was signed between Rosneft and the government of Iraqi Kurdistan for the purchase of oil in the period from 2017 to 2019 on a prepayment basis.

Total Oil Trading

Sum of contracts: $7.2 billion

Cooperates in Russia with Gazprom Neft, Surgutneftegaz, and Rosneft.

Points of purchase: Primorsk, Ust-Luga, Rotterdam (the Netherlands), Adamova Zastava (Poland).

In 2015, Total Oil Trading signed a new two-year contract with Rosneft for the delivery of 4.8 million tons of oil per year to Germany. The French company Total buys Russian oil mainly through a trader's subsidiary, Total Oil Trading SA (TOTSA), as well as Total E&P Russie.

In 2017, the volume of purchases decreased by 1.2 million tons, but the total amount of contracts increased.

Tatneft Europe

Sum of contracts: $4.6 billion

Cooperates in Russia with Tatneft.

Points of purchase: Novorossiysk, Primorsk, Ust-Luga, Adamova Zastava (Poland), Budkovce (Slovakia).

Tatneft Europe AG buys only Tatneft oil in Russia, as it is its trading subsidiary. Last year, the volume of purchases went up by 2.3 million tons to 12.6 million tons. In 2015, Tatneft Europe showed particular interest to Polish buyers.

After reports of intentions of the Orlen company to increase purchases of oil from Saudi Arabia, Tatneft suggested that the Ministry of Energy develop measures to protect Russian companies in the European oil market.

Shell Trading

Sum of contracts: $4 billion

Cooperates in Russia with Surgutneftegaz, Gazprom Neft, and Rosneft.

Points of purchase: Primorsk, Novorossiysk, Ust-Luga, Budkovce (Slovakia), Adamova Zastava (Poland).

Several Shell structures have contracts for the supply of Russian oil: Shell International Trading and Shipping Company, Shell International Eastern Trading Company, and Shell Trading International. Shell opened a subsidiary company, Shell Trading Rasha BV, in Moscow to work with Russian partners. At the same time, A Royal Dutch Shell has been producing gas and oil in Russia together with Gazprom and Gazprom Neft for many years.

In 2017, Shell increased the volume of oil purchases in Russia by 2 million tons, the overall cost of contracts grew by $1.4 billion.

Glencore

Sum of contracts: $4 billion

Cooperates in Russia with Rosneft, Neftis, Neftus, and Yukola-Neft.

Points of purchase: Primorsk, Ust-Luga, Budkovce (Slovakia), Feneshlitke (Hungary).

In 2016, a 19.5% stake of Rosneft was bought by a consortium of the Qatar sovereign fund, QIA, and the Swiss commodity trader, Glencore. The contract amounted to €10.2 billion. Under the terms of the deal, Rosneft became an oil supplier for Glencore for five years. As a result, it increased the volume of oil by 10.9 million tons per year. In 2017, Glencore bought 11.2 million tons of Russian oil which is 3.6 million tons less than a year ago. The total cost of contracts has remained almost unchanged, $ 4 billion. It's only $100 million less than in 2016.

Orlen

Sum of contracts: $3.8 billion

Cooperates in Russia with Rosneft.

Points of purchase: Adamova Zastava (Poland).

The cooperation of the Polish oil concern, Orlen, with Russian companies has been going on for a long time and, according to the head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin, "has been tested for years". In December 2015, Russian oil supplies to Orlen were increased. And in June 2016, Rosneft and Orlen extended a contract for the supply of oil to the Czech Republic, where the Polish concern is the leader of oil refining, for three years.

The volume of purchases of Russian oil in 2017 decreased by 2.1 million tons, but the total cost of contracts grew by $300 million.

QHG Trading

Sum of contracts: $2.6 billion

Cooperates in Russia with Rosneft, Bashneft-Polus, and Surgutneftegaz.

Points of purchase: Primorsk, Ust-Luga, Feneshlitke (Hungary), Budkovce (Slovakia).

British QHG Trading LLP is a JV of the largest Swiss trading company Glencore and Qatar Holding LLC (owned by Qatar state fund QIA).

Rosneft annually delivers from 4.5 million to 11 million tons of oil to the trader, under the terms of the contract which was signed in 2017. The price of each delivery is determined by market quotes of crude oil at the time of the relevant delivery.

In 2017, QHG Trading purchased 7.7 million tons of Russian oil for $2.6 billion.

Vitol

Sum of contracts: $2.5 billion

Cooperates in Russia with Lukoil, Bashneft-polus, and Surgutneftegaz.

Points of purchase: Primorsk, Ust-Luga, Novorossiysk, and Kozmino.

In 2013, Rosneft entered into agreements with Glencore and Vitol for oil supplies for $10 billion until 2018. Rosneft always had a closer relationship with Glencore and Trafigura than with Vitol which always bought less Russian oil. Therefore, some experts believe that the contract with Vitol, most likely, will not be prolonged.