Russia has replaced Iran as a top five crude supplier to Asia. Oil sales to Asia Pacific surged 23% to 1.3 million barrels per day in January-November 2015 from a year ago. As a result, Russia's share in the market has doubled to 7.4%. China and South Korea became the largest consumers of Russian oil.
Oil prices falling for more than a year trigger the battle among producers to capture the crude buyer, especially from Asia, as oil demand there is much higher than in Europe.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are Asian leaders in oil supplies. However, the countries have to withstand serious competition within OPEC. Thus, Iran replaced Kuwait from the fourth place with its 25% increase in exports. Saudi Arabia’s exports rose only 3%, while the UAE’s supplies fell 3.5%.
