US monthly Russian crude imports to surpass Saudi shipments
America is set to take in more crude from Russia than its longtime Middle East ally Saudi Arabia for the first time on record, as shipments from the kingdom collapse and Venezuela sanctions force refineries to seek oil alternatives. Saudi imports to the US so far this month total 6.76m barrels, just over half the 12m barrels tracked last month
Some 6.77m barrels have discharged in the US so far this May from tankers that loaded in Russia, as increasing volumes of Urals crude from Russian Baltic ports sail to the US Gulf coast