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Iraq and Saudi Arabia are working on sending their crude oil to Europe in an effort to help the continent’s oil refineries which are desperately trying to give up the oil supplies from Russia.
According to a report recently published by Bloomberg, more than one million barrels per day of crude oil arrive in Europe coming from the Middle East in the first three weeks of July through a pipeline that passes from Egypt. This amount represents twice the volume sent to Europe a year ago.
Shipments from Saudi Arabia dominate the flows through the pipeline, but Iraq is also increasing the quantities delivered to Europe, according to Bloomberg.
Companies can either deliver their oil shipments via SUMED pipeline (also known as the Suez-Mediterranean Pipeline), an oil pipeline in Egypt running from the Ain Sokhna terminal in the Gulf of Suez to offshore Sidi Kerir, Alexandria in the Mediterranean Sea, or if their ships are small enough, oil shipments can be transported directly through the Suez Canal, which is how Iraq transports its oil shipments.
Export volumes through the pipeline increased from about 800 thousand barrels per day in the previous month to the highest level since April 2020.
In addition to these flows, about 1.2 million barrels per day were shipped from the Arabian Gulf toward the canal in the first three weeks of July, mostly from Iraq.
This could raise the total flows from the Middle East to Europe to 2.2 million barrels per day, an increase of nearly 90 percent since January, just before the Ukrainian crisis.
The shift comes as Russian crude oil volumes increase in the opposite direction, from its Baltic and Black Sea ports to buyers in India and China.
It is uncertain whether flows from the Middle East to Europe will be sustainable, and at the end of this year, the European Union’s ban on Russian crude oil is set to come into effect.
