World’s top oil trader will stop buying Russian crude

World’s top oil trader will stop buying Russian crude

London (CNN Business) – Vitol Group, the world’s top independent oil merchant, will stop trading Russian crude oil and products by the end of the year, a source with knowledge of the situation told CNN.

The Dutch energy and commodities trading company will also not enter into any new Russian crude and product transactions, the source said.

Vitol declined to comment beyond confirming the accuracy of an article published by Bloomberg, which reported the news earlier.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia have all announced bans on Russian oil.

Major companies including Shell, TotalEnergies and Neste have also stopped buying Russian crude, or have said they will do so by the end of 2022, and a wider de facto embargo has taken hold as banks, traders, shippers and insurance companies try to avoid falling foul of Western financial sanctions.

As Russian oil has become toxic for many buyers, its benchmark Urals crude has traded at an ever wider discount on the world market. It’s now worth $34 a barrel less than Brent crude.

The International Energy Agency estimated on Wednesday that supplies of Russian oil will drop by 1.5 million barrels a day in April, and could fall