Russia exported nearly 3.94 million barrels of crude oil per day last week, marking a 20% increase from the previous week despite US sanctions. Carsten Fritsche, commodities analyst at Commerzbank, notes that a record volume of Russian crude oil is now sitting in tankers at sea, raising questions about demand even as production bottlenecks push exports higher.
Russian seaborne oil exports rose to their highest levels since September
“Russia exported significantly more crude oil by sea last week than in previous weeks. According to Bloomberg data based on tanker data, seaborne shipments rose to 3.94 million barrels per day in the week ending November 30. That was 20% more than the previous week and the highest level since early September. The average of the less volatile four weeks also rose to 3.46 million barrels per day.”
“The increase in exports can be explained by the fact that due to ongoing Ukrainian drone attacks on oil refineries in Russia, less crude oil can be processed and thus more is available for export. The increase in oil exports comes as a surprise, as US sanctions against Russia’s two largest oil companies came into effect just before the reporting week.”
“However, an increase in exports does not automatically mean that there are buyers for the oil. According to Bloomberg, there were more than 180 million barrels of Russian oil in tankers at sea at the end of November, representing a 21% increase in three months. Some ships are likely to sail without a specific destination, in search of a buyer.”
