With European Union (EU) sanctions on Russian crude oil imports coming into effect from December 2022 and the ban on petroleum products imports effective from February 5, 2023, Russian oil major Rosneft's CEO Igor Sechin on Monday said that nations outside of Europe will decide price of its Urals crude now.
Addressing a ministerial session during the ongoing India Energy Week, Sechin said that India and other nations have helped maintain the market for Russian crude, as Europe is now not in the picture.
Referring to India as a strongly emerging economy, whose growth is expected to be 7 per cent, Sechin, who was addressing the gathering in Russian, said that India is set to be a global leader and is among the major buyers of its crude among Asian nations, owing to EU sanctions on its crude and petroleum products.
Russia is now the largest supplier of crude to India.
Sanctions were imposed on Russian crude owing to its attack and ongoing war with Ukraine since February 2022.
The Rosneft chief, who is among the most powerful persons in Russia and is considered close to President Vladimir Putin, said that despite the sanctions by the West disrupting its supply chains and hurting all principles of market, Russia has managed to win the psychological battle.
Sechin also targetted US-based oil companies, saying that since the beginning of 2022, they have outperformed against the sluggish dynamics of the industry and shown an average growth of 61 per cent.
He even showed figures of some leading US energy companies' growth to support his claim.
