US Buying More Russia Oil

The United States is increasing its oil imports from Russia, according to a Bloomberg source, as US refineries clamor for more oil now that refineries oil supplies have dried up.

The amount of oil that flowed into the US from Russia so far in May was exponentially greater, said Russ Dallen of Caracas Capital Markets.

United States took a total of 5 million barrels of Russian crude so far this month, and more are on the way.

The US imported less Russian crude in January and February, purchasing a total of 16.13 million barrels of crude and other oil products, according to the Energy Information Administration.

This compares to 20.25 million during that period in 2018.

But the US is expected to increase this as much as three times now that Venezuela is no longer a crude supplier to the United States.

In January and February, Venezuela shipped 27.67 million barrels to the US. This is lower than the corresponding months last year, when oil shipments from Venezuela to the US came in at 29.58 million.

Data suggests that Russia is all too happy to pick up the slack left by Venezuela and profit from it—much like Saudi Arabia and the UAE are happy to do as Iranian oil exports fall to new lows.