Rare Russian oil cargo unloads in Ghana after three-month wait

An oil tanker holding Russian crude oil off the coast of Ghana is finally unloading its cargo after a three-month wait.

The Suezmax class-tanker Snow Lotus is discharging about 1 million barrels of Lukoil PJSC’s Varandey crude, exported from the Arctic Sea, at Tema in Ghana, vessel tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show. It’s the fourth observed shipment of oil to the west African nation from Russia since Moscow’s troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Moscow has been slowly building up a roster of small customers for its crude to supplement the bulk of its sales that rely on China, India and Turkey after European buyers shunned Russian oil following the invasion.

Alongside Ghana, the list includes Brazil, Brunei, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. But the volumes remain tiny. About 20 million barrels of Russian crude has been shipped to the five countries since the start of the war, equivalent to about 25,000 barrels a day. That compares with average seaborne flows so far this year of 1.34 million barrels a day to China and of 1.55 million barrels a day to India.

Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo opened a new refinery in Tema in January.

The Sentuo plant, built by Chinese investors, will start by processing 40,000 barrels of crude a day in its first phase before more than doubling its capacity to as many as 100,000 barrels daily. It is likely that the Russian crude will be processed at the new plant. The nearby Tema Oil Refinery, which is not currently operating, is providing storage for Sentuo, according to local media.

There was initial resistance in Ghana to accepting Russian oil after the invasion of Ukraine, but that didn’t prevent occasional shipments from occurring.