Russia earns $130 billion on oil exports in 2024 to fund war — expert

Omelchenko expressed this opinion on Espreso TV.

“This is good news for us that Trump wants to use the lever of oil prices to force Russia to stop its aggression. But time will tell how effective it will be. Because, in principle, lowering prices in the ways that Trump plans is a rather inertial process. Because you really need to reach an agreement with Saudi Arabia first, and this country is quite conservative, and even if you reach an agreement with them, it is still unclear how much these prices will go down,” he said.

The energy expert highlighted that over the past year, Russia earned approximately $130 billion from oil exports, a figure that closely aligns with its estimated war expenditures.

"In 2023, Russia's income from the export of crude oil, oil products, and liquefied petroleum gas amounted to about $130 billion. This figure nearly coincides with the Kremlin's official military budget," Omelchenko explained.

He emphasized that such revenues enable Russia to sustain its aggressive war in Ukraine. "The energy sector continues to be the financial backbone of the Russian Federation's militaristic ambitions," he added.

Despite sanctions and restrictions imposed by Western countries, Moscow has managed to redirect much of its oil exports to markets in Asia and other regions. "These maneuvers, coupled with high global energy prices, have allowed Russia to maintain significant revenues despite reductions in volumes exported," Omelchenko said.

The expert stressed the need for further tightening of sanctions against Russian energy exports to undermine its capacity to fund the war. 

The expert believes that the sanctions against the shadow fleet have already had a good effect. According to him, the price of freight for tankers transporting Russian oil has already increased significantly: “And as of March, China, and India are refusing to contract Russian oil for now, because it is already becoming expensive and unprofitable, and it is more profitable to do so with OPEC countries.”