Russia increases oil exports to record level amid falling prices - Bloomberg
Kyiv • UNN
The average four-week oil supply volume reached 4.13 million barrels per day, the highest level since the start of the invasion. Moscow's oil revenue value fell to its lowest level since March due to falling prices.
Russia's oil exports are surging to record levels, causing a significant accumulation of barrels at sea amid falling prices for Moscow's key source of revenue, Bloomberg reports, writes UNN.
Details
According to Bloomberg tanker tracking data, the average four-week oil supply rose to 4.13 million barrels per day in the period up to June 28. This is the highest level since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022; before that, the country transported a much larger share of its oil via pipelines to Western Europe.
The increase in exports means that the volume of Russian oil on offshore platforms has risen by about a third compared to the mid-April low, with cargoes beginning to accumulate in areas near Egypt and Singapore, indicating possible difficulties for Moscow in placing all its shipments, the publication writes.
The increase in supply volumes comes amid ongoing strikes on oil refineries, which could potentially lead to the diversion for export of oil that cannot be processed at home, the publication notes.
The value of Russian shipments, it is noted, is not keeping pace with the sharp increase in volumes. Prices for Moscow's key export oil grade have fallen following global benchmarks amid hopes that a temporary Middle East peace deal, which is already increasing supplies from the Persian Gulf, will become permanent. According to Argus Media, the cost of cargoes loading in the Baltic Sea is half of what it was in early May, and the price of ESPO crude loading in the Pacific Ocean is also falling.
"This has caused the value of Moscow's oil revenues to fall to their lowest level since March," the publication writes.
Over the past four weeks, daily Russian oil supplies have exceeded first-quarter figures by approximately 780,000 barrels, resulting in the volume of oil on offshore platforms rising to 133 million barrels, about 34% more than in mid-April. Tanker tracking data shows that cargoes are beginning to accumulate at Marsa el-Hamra in Egypt and in the Riau Archipelago east of Singapore.