India's oil imports from Russia are likely to continue to rise this year mainly because of the steeply discounted prices it is selling at, he said, and assuming there are "no further stringent actions by the Western countries targeting Russian oil."

China's natural gas imports also fell, by 9.9% to 109.25 Mt in 2022 (121.26 Mt in 2021). LNG imports dropped by 19% to 64.13 Mt in 2022 (79.3 Mt in 2021). Similarly, China’s coal imports fell 9.2% to 293.2 Mt in 2022 (335 Mt in 2021).

China's LPG imports over January-November 2022 rose 7% on the year to 24.2 million mt, led by supply from the US, the UAE, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, customs data showed.

Russia is traditionally among the world’s top three coal exporters, though the industry accounts for just a sliver of the Russian economy.

Egypt has two LNG export facilities -- the 7.2 million mt/year Shell-operated Idku facility and the smaller Eni-operated 5 million mt/year Damietta plant.

The share of imports from Russia has likely risen because of lower imports into China and shifting trade patterns following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Western economic sanctions have reduced demand for Russian crude oil, and as a result, have left Russia to look for alternative export destinations.

Russia is still the biggest source of the trade bloc's shipped crude with more than 1.2 million b/d of imports landing in the region in early September, the data shows, little changed on the month.

Russia’s natural gas exports by pipeline to the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) declined by almost 40% during the first seven months of 2022 compared with the same period in 2021 and by almost 50% compared with the previous five-year (2017–21) average,

China's crude stocks stood at an 11-month high of 945 million barrels in May, accounting for 63% of the country's crude storage capacity

The boom in STS activity involving Russian crude came as Moscow's seaborne oil exports defied Western sanctions to hit post-pandemic highs of 4 million b/d in April 2022.