Asian nations compete to secure discounted Russian oil supplies

Moscow – (Web Desk) – Asian countries including Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka are now rushing to buy Russian oil. The reason is simple. The ongoing war involving Iran has blocked a major oil supply route, and everyone is scrambling to find alternatives.

For years, Europe was Russia’s biggest oil customer. But after the Ukraine war started, European countries stopped buying from Moscow. That gap was quickly filled by India and China, which now together buy around 80% of Russia’s oil exports. Turkey has been buying heavily too.

Now a new wave of buyers is joining in. Russia’s own spokesman Dmitry Peskov admitted that demand is getting very high. He warned that Russia may soon struggle to keep up with everyone who wants to buy.

The situation is serious. About one fifth of the world’s oil supply is stuck because the US and Israel’s war on Iran has shut down traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. That’s a critical waterway for global oil shipments.

Russia is actually doing well financially right now. Oil prices are high and America gave a 30 day waiver allowing countries to buy Russian oil at sea without penalties. Oil and gas money makes up roughly a quarter of Russia’s government income.

But Russia can’t simply pump and ship more oil whenever it wants. Ukrainian drone strikes have knocked out at least 40% of Russia’s oil export capacity. That’s a serious bottleneck.

On the buying side things are moving fast. The Philippines just bought Russian oil for the first time in five years. Two tankers recently delivered around 1.5 million barrels to its Bataan refinery. Thailand is in active talks with Russia about buying crude oil. Sri Lanka is also having similar discussions. And Vietnam’s Prime Minister personally traveled to Moscow this week asking a Russian energy company to supply oil to Vietnam on a long term basis.