Highlights: Ten facts about Russia's dependence on oil
Ten facts about Russia's dependence on oil
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US President Trump wants to force Moscow to make peace in Ukraine by imposing high tariff sanctions on Russian oil buyers. These figures demonstrate how heavily Russia relies on oil exports.
- Crude oil, petroleum products and related goods account for 38.3 percent of all Russian exports, more than in any other major industrialized country (UN Trade & Development).
- With more than 10.7 million barrels of oil (159 liters) produced per day, Russia ranks third among the countries with the largest oil production (Global Firepower).
- Beijing is Moscow's most important oil customer: in 2024, China imported crude oil and petroleum products from Russia worth about 75.7 billion US dollars – a tenth more than the previous year (UN Trade & Development).
- Since the war began in 2022, China has been the largest importer of fossil fuels from Russia, with imports totaling $225 billion. India ranks second with approximately $120 billion (Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air).
- Six percent of all Russian oil exports still go to EU countries, mainly to Hungary and Slovakia (IEA).
- Russia no longer supplies any oil to Germany. In 2021, Germany was still the third-largest buyer, after China and the Netherlands (IEA).
- In 2021, Germany covered around 29 percent of its oil needs through supplies from Russia. Now, the United States, Norway, and Libya are the most important suppliers (Eurostat).
- Russia itself is one of its largest consumers: one in three barrels of oil produced is consumed domestically (Global Firepower). The majority of the population heats its homes with district heating from fossil-fueled power plants.
- The three largest Russian companies by revenue all come from the energy sector: Rosneft, Gazprom, and Gazprom Neft together generate revenue of more than 20 trillion rubles (approximately 200 billion euros). The largest company outside the energy sector is the railway company RZD, with revenue of 2.6 trillion rubles (Statista).
- Of the 74 million working Russians, almost one million work in the oil industry and 2.2 million for the armed forces (Rosstat).
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
