Russia plans to keep increasing its oil exports to Asia despite plummeting oil prices and Western sanctions , even as its oil supplies to the region hit record levels this year. Russia is making a strategic push to increase its energy exports to Asia, as energy demand in its traditional markets in Europe has stagnated and its relationship with countries there has been strained by sanctions over Moscow’s role in the conflict in Ukraine. Russia’s oil exports to Asia have been spearheaded by the East Siberia-Pacific Ocean, or ESPO, pipeline since 2009. The pipeline feeds directly into northern China and up to the port of Kozmino in eastern Russia where crude is loaded on ships to supply the rest of Asia […]