More crude from the United Arab Emirates could be heading towards Europe as the continent looks to alternative supplies to replace sanctioned Russian crude.
France is reported to have approached the Middle East nation about the supply of alternative energy sources, finance minister Bruno Le Maire said on Sunday.
“We are looking for substitutes to the supply of gas or diesel from Russia,” Le Maire said during an interview with CNews TV and Europe1 radio Bloomberg reported.
“For example, the United Arab Emirates can be a solution, at least temporarily, to replace Russian oil and diesel. These are discussions that have already begun with the United Arab Emirates.”
French President Emmanuel Macron has said that Russian oil imports to the European Union would be cut by about 92% by the end of the year as a result of the latest round of sanctions.
The UAE is the third largest exporter of crude oil in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
However, any change in trade patterns for UAE crude could prove negative for the tanker market.
Trade patterns for UAE crude oil exports tend to be quite long haul, with the vast majority of volumes going to Asia, with east of Suez accounting for up to 99% of UAE exports, according to shipbroker Banchero Costa.
Total crude oil loadings from the UAE in the 12 months of 2021 decreased by 10.8% year-on-year to 124.8m tonnes, according to revised vessels tracking data from Refinitiv.
About 27.6% of shipments, some 34.5m tonnes, were sent to Japan last year, the ASEAN region accounted for a further 20.6%, or 25.7m tonnes, while China imported 20.4% of UAE exports, some 25.5m tonnes and India accounted for 16.3%, or 20.3m tonnes, of exports.
The vast majority, some 75% of UAE crude oil exports are loaded on VLCCs, with 16% on Suezmaxes, according to Banchero Costa.
“In 2021, 103.5m tonnes were shipped on VLCCs, 26.5m tonnes on suezmaxes, 14.3m tonnes on aframaxes,” the Italian shipbroker added.
