Russia’s Fuel Exports Plummeted in July

By Charles Kennedy of OilPrice.com

Shipments of refined petroleum products out of Russia declined by 6.6% in July from the previous month, Reuters estimates showed on Wednesday, as domestic demand rose and capacity under planned maintenance increased.  

Port of Murmansk

Russian seaborne fuel exports fell to 8.67 million metric tons last month, with shipments from the Baltic ports, the Black Sea and Sea of Azov ports, and the Arctic Murmansk and Arkhangelsk ports all down in July compared to June.   

Only the fuel shipments from the Far Eastern ports rose in July from a month earlier as most maintenance works at refineries in the area were completed, according to the data provided by industry sources and calculated by Reuters. 

Going forward, Russia’s refined product shipments could fall further in August, while crude oil exports could rise, as several refineries sustained damages during Ukrainian drone strikes earlier this month. 

A Sunday drone attack on the Saratov refinery, owned by Russia’s oil giant Rosneft, prompted the facility to halt the intake of crude oil, a source with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg on Monday. 

The Saratov Refinery in the Volga region has the capacity to process 140,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude, but it has now been forced offline due to Ukrainian drone strikes.   

The refinery has become the third Russian crude processing facility to have been damaged by Ukrainian drone strikes so far in August. 

The halt to three major refineries would mean that Russia will see lower domestic gasoline and diesel supply while it will have more crude available for export as it doesn’t have too much storage for the unprocessed crude.  

Last week, reports emerged that Russia is preparing to sharply increase crude oil exports this month after Ukrainian drone strikes disabled major refineries, prompting a shift toward western port shipments. 

Crude shipments from Russia’s western ports could increase to 2 million bpd in August, about 200,000 bpd more than previously planned, sources told Reuters last week.