2023-04-24 17:53:00
Russia’s crude oil exports are on the rise and refining is still above last year’s levels, so it has not yet been possible to confirm the production cuts promised by the Russian authorities. Bloomberg reports this with reference to data on supplies and workload of oil refineries (refineries).
The source of the publication in the Ministry of Energy previously reported a decrease in oil production in March by 700,000 barrels per day. However, reports from port agents and tanker tracking data showed that shipments from Russian ports remained virtually unchanged, averaging 3.4 million bpd for the week ending April 21. In total, 23.8 million barrels of Russian oil were loaded on 32 tankers during this period. On average, over four weeks, total offshore exports rose by 72,000 bpd to 3.46 million bpd, the highest in 10 months.
Experts believe that the achievement of a new high was made possible by strong demand from buyers such as China, India and Turkey. The combined volume of crude oil on ships traveling from Russia to these countries, as well as tankers that did not specify a final destination, rose for the second week in a row and reached a record high of 3.35 million barrels per day over the past four weeks.
Exports of Russian oil by sea to European countries were recorded at 83,000 bpd for the 28 days ending April 21, with Bulgaria as the only destination. Deliveries to Turkey over the same period fell to 104,000 bpd, the lowest level in five weeks.
The rate of oil refining remained at the level of the beginning of the year and as of April 19 was 720,000 barrels per day higher than in the same month last year.
The depletion of stocks might contribute to the increase in exports, however, according to experts, Russia has relatively small storage capacities. In addition, most of the reservoirs are used for the normal functioning of the country’s pipeline network, which makes it unlikely that exports and processing will be supported by previously mined raw materials.
In March, the International Energy Agency (IEA) announced record deliveries of Russian oil. Compared to February, oil exports increased by 0.6 million barrels per day, to 8.1 million, and oil products – by 0.45 million, to 3.1 million barrels per day.
In February, the Russian authorities announced their intention to reduce oil production by 500,000 barrels per day from March. Later, the voluntary production limit was extended twice – for three months and until the end of 2023.
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