European traders are rushing to fill tanks in the region with Russian diesel before an EU ban begins in February, as alternative sources remain limited, Reuters reported. The European Union will ban Russian oil product imports, on which it relies heavily for its diesel, by Feb. 5. That will follow a ban on Russian crude taking effect in December. Russian diesel loadings destined for the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) storage region rose to 215,000 bpd from Nov. 1 to Nov. 12, up by 126% from October, Pamela Munger, senior market analyst at energy analytics firm Vortexa, said. With few immediate cost-effective alternatives, diesel from Russia has made up 44% of Europe's total imports of the road fuel so far in November, compared with 39% in October, Refinitiv data shows. Although Europe's reliance on the Russian fuel has fallen from more than 50% before Moscow's February invasion of Ukraine, Russia is still the continent's largest diesel supplier.
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