Shipments via Russia’s key western ports slump 19% this year Chinese imported pipeline deliveries are soaring from Russia Europe’s oil refineries are increasingly missing out on Russian crude as the world’s biggest energy producer directs more and more barrels by pipeline to China. Russia will ship an average of 19 percent less crude through its main ports on the Baltic and Black Seas in the first five months of 2018 compared with a year earlier, according to loading plans obtained by Bloomberg. Meanwhile piped flows to China soared 43 percent in the first three months, the most recent data from state operator Transneft PJSC show. The shift is likely to leave Europe’s refineries looking replacement for crudes, according to Alan Gelder, vice president for refining, chemicals and oil markets at Wood Mackenzie Ltd. in London. The continent imports more crude from Russia than any other nation, figures from ITC […]