Morocco Among Top Importers of Russian Diesel

Rabat – Morocco maintains its position among top importers of Russian diesel, new data compiled by Russian analytical agency Naans-media has confirmed.

In a report on Thursday citing the data, Russian news outlet Sputnik News said that Morocco’s imports of Russian diesel accounted for 12% of all Russian deliveries in March.

In addition to Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria also featured among the largest importers of Russian diesel in March – with the three countries’ imports accounting for 30% of Russia’s diesel exports.

The largest importer is Turkiye with 33 %.

“Russia has thus been able to form stable flows of oil product deliveries to countries considered friendly or neutral,” Sputnik News quoted Naans-media as saying.

The report comes as Russia has continued to intensify its fuel exports to address the EU embargo on Russian products.

While the increase in Russian exports is good news for the country’s economy, there has been uproar in recipient countries – with many denouncing manipulation of the fuel market.

Earlier this month, a group of opposition parties in Morocco demanded the creation of a parliamentary inquiry commission to investigate potential fraud and manipulation of the national energy market.

The request came at the initiative of the Popular Movement (MP), the Progress and Socialism Party (PPS), as well as the Justice and Development Party (PJD).

“Through this initiative, we seek to dispel the doubts surrounding this affair especially since the subject is closely linked to Morocco’s energy security energy bill, inflation, the purchasing power of Moroccans, and the tax revenue,” the opposition parties stressed.

Many politicians have been calling on the Moroccan government to open an investigation into manipulation of fuel prices by energy companies operating in Morocco.

Some of them suggested that companies are involved in changing the documentation of their Russian imports and passing their products off as imported from the Gulf or other countries to set higher prices.

The Wall Street Journal reported on similar concerns last month, raising concerns that Russian oil was being blended with other countries’ products and re-exported to Europe in defiance of the EU’s sanction on Russia.