Russian Crude Runs and Transportation Optionality Cut Baltic Exports

Russia, an original member of the BRICS group of emerging markets, has experienced renewed post-financial crisis macroeconomic growth, though not at the same clip as some of its peers. This growth has led to increased domestic demand for clean products. At the same time, Russia’s refinery infrastructure is notably inefficient. For example, IEA recently wrote that “if Russia had used energy as efficiently as comparable OECD countries in each sector of the economy in 2008, it could have saved more than 200 million tonnes of oil equivalent, equal to 30% of its consumption that year.” Download here