Bloomberg: Southern European countries are secretly making record purchases of Russian oil

Oil buyers in southern Europe are returning to the Russian crude market to stock up on supplies ahead of an EU oil embargo.

This is reported by Bloomberg on the basis of tracking the movement of vessels in the region.

"Shipments of Russian crude oil to the ports of Italy and Turkey increased to a maximum in seven days, compensating for another drop in supplies to customers in Northern Europe. "Deliveries from Russia to the Mediterranean region as a whole were the highest since mid-June," the publication says.

Crude oil deliveries to Spain and Greece were also recorded for the first time in the last four months.

Bloomberg noted that Russian crude supplies to European buyers hit a five-week high of 1.38 million barrels per day, although that was still below the 1.85 million barrels per day reached through February 24.

Russia also continues to send about 1.75 million barrels per day of oil to Asia, although those flows fell after exporting 2.1 million barrels per day in April and May.

Interestingly, cargo ships tried to hide the origin of the crude oil to ensure the arrival of the sanctioned cargo. In this way, Russia supplies oil through an Egyptian port, where oil of various origins is mixed.

• On June 3, the European Union officially announced the introduction of the sixth package of sanctions against Russia. The list of restrictions includes the oil embargo.