Some Russian oil is still making it into the US

Despite heavy sanctions, some fuels believed to be partially made from Russian crude landed in New York and New Jersey last month. The cargo originated from Indian refineries, according to shipping records.

🤔 What’s going on?... Traders are working to obscure the origins of Russian oil to evade sanctions and keep it flowing, concealing it in blended refined products such as gasoline, diesel and chemicals, the WSJ reports.

• Following Western sanctions, Russian oil has been available at a deep discount, and some countries – like India – are snapping it up. The country’s imports have risen to ~800,000 barrels/day since the war began, compared with 30,000 barrels/day previously, per commodity-markets data company Kpler.
• Oil is also being transferred between ships at sea, similar to how sanctioned Iranian and Venezuelan oil is bought and sold. The transfers are happening in the Mediterranean, with oil then heading toward China, India and Western Europe, per shipping companies.

🛢 The big picture: Russia’s oil exports fell in March, but rose in April by 620,000 barrels to reach 8.1 million barrels/day, close to its pre-war levels.

🇺🇦 Zoom out: President Biden announced a new $700 million weapons package for Ukraine yesterday.