What about the sanctions? Russian oil sales abroad have reached a record high

The reason for the increase in sea shipments is said to be the end of maintenance work at major export terminals. Earlier, due to the work, shipments from Primorsk on the Baltic Sea and Kozmino on the Pacific coast decreased. Another reason is said to be a decline in crude oil refining due to preventive maintenance at oil refineries and equipment repairs following attacks by Ukrainian drones.

According to vessel tracking data and port agent reports, 34 tankers loaded 25.66 million barrels of Russian crude in the week, up 4.37 million barrels, and that figure does not include shipments identified as Kazakhstan’s KEBCO grade. Crude shipments so far this year are regarding 20,000 barrels a day higher than the average for all of 2023. Russian ports are handling regarding 3.67 million barrels a day, analysts say.

Russia abandoned its export targets in late May, opting instead to curb output under the OPEC+ deal. The target was set at 8.978 million barrels per day until the end of September, following which output would rise by 39,000 barrels per day until September 2025, market conditions permitting.

Observed deliveries to Russia’s Asian customers, including those without a final destination, rose to a seven-week high of 3.04 million barrels per day. The main buyers of Russian oil were China (1.1 million barrels per day) and India (1.61 million barrels).

“Most of the unspecified volumes of crude come from western Russian ports and then transit through the Suez Canal, but some may end up in Turkey. Other oil products may be transferred from one vessel to another, with most of these movements currently taking place in the Mediterranean, off the coast of Morocco or near the city of Sohar in Oman,” the analysts said.