Russian refineries have raised their crude-processing volumes to highest levels in nine weeks as the nation’s downstream maintenance season is nearing an end.
(Bloomberg) — Russian refineries have raised their crude-processing volumes to highest levels in nine weeks as the nation’s downstream maintenance season is nearing an end.
Russia’s refining facilities processed 5.49 million barrels a day in the week ending June 14, according to a person familiar with the matter. That’s nearly 194,000 barrels a day more than the the week before and the country’s highest processing rate since the second half of April, historical data show.
Crude supplies to domestic refineries, along with seaborne exports, remain the key gauges for oil-market observers seeking clues to Russia’s production levels after the government classified output data amid Western sanctions. The country pledged to cut output by 500,000 barrels a day starting in March, responding to restrictive measures adopted by the West, including a G-7 price cap on its crude sales.
Russia is implementing its cuts in full, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak has said on numerous occasions, most recently at the Vienna meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies in early June. However, robust seaborne exports and recovering domestic crude processing cast doubt on the claims.
“Russia is restoring its daily refinery throughput as the spring maintenance season is largely over,” said Viktor Katona, head of oil analytics at research firm Kpler. “We will see the last key facilities, including Surgutneftegas PJSC’s Kirishi, coming back online in the first days of July. Then the refinery runs will fully return to pre-maintenance volumes.”
Russian oil-processing volumes so far this year peaked at 5.78 million barrels per day in the first week of April, according to historic data.
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