Oil supplies from Russia have risen for 4 weeks in a row to the highest level since late June, as seasonal maintenance is set to reduce refinery throughput to the lowest level in more than two years, Bloomberg reports, UNN writes.
Details
The average supply for the four weeks rose by 140 ,000 barrels per day in the week to October 20 to reach 3.47 million. Oil refining is likely to fall to its lowest level since May 2022, allowing more crude oil to be exported, the publication notes.
Exports to Asia, including barrels headed for the Suez Canal that are likely to end up in India, hit their highest level in more than five months, reportedly driving overall growth. About 95% of crude oil shipped by sea from Russia to this region, with almost all of it heading to India and China, the newspaper writes.
The increase brought the gross value of Russian exports to $1.59 billion per week in the 28 days to October 20, from $1.52 billion in the four weeks to October 13. This is the highest figure since mid-August, the publication notes.
According to the publication, sanctions against tankers carrying Russian oil have become less effective in recent months, and about a third of those that were in place before the latest addition by the UK are now back in place. Most of those that have been re-imposed, as noted, were authorized by the UK.
Britain imposes the “largest” sanctions against Russia's shadow fleet17.10.24, 14:07
According to ship tracking data and reports from port agents, 32 tankers loaded 24.21 million barrels of Russian crude oil in the week to October 20. The volume was up from 23.14 million barrels on 31 vessels the previous week. This reportedly brought the 4-week average flows to 3.47 million barrels per day, up 142,000 ,000 from the previous week.
Addendum
During the first four weeks after the Group of Seven price ceiling on Russian oil exports came into effect in early December 2022, the cost of sea shipments fell to a minimum of $930 million per week, but, according to the publication, soon recovered.