Russia’s oil product exports dropped to an 11-month low in August as refineries wound down operations for planned autumn maintenance.
(Bloomberg) — Russia’s oil product exports dropped to an 11-month low in August as refineries wound down operations for planned autumn maintenance.
Shipments of petroleum products including diesel and fuel oil totaled 2.28 million barrels a day last month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from analytics firm Vortexa Ltd. That’s down 9% from July and the lowest amount since September 2022.
Russian oil flows are being closely monitored by the market to gauge crude production amid Moscow’s pledged cuts and after the government started withholding official output data. The country’s seaborne crude exports jumped to an eight-week high in late August, and Russia this week joined Saudi Arabia in extending supply curbs until year-end.
Refined fuel exports also eased last month as some products breached Group-of-Seven price caps, complicating traders’ access to Western shipping services and insurance. Plus, Russian subsidies to local refiners — designed to aid domestic supplies of road fuels like gasoline and diesel — climbed in August. The payments are set to halve from September.
Here’s a breakdown of August exports from Russia’s ports:
Diesel and gasoil exports shipments fell 5.7% from July to a three-month low of 1.04 million barrels a day. Brazil has become the second-biggest buyer of Russian diesel, behind only Turkey. Gasoline and blending component flows dropped to a 10-month low of 81,000 barrels a day.
Naphtha exports declined about 6% to 371,000 barrels a day. Bigger flows to the Middle East, Africa and South America were offset by lower shipments to Asia. Jet fuel shipments totaled 35,000 barrels a day, the most since May.
Fuel oil exports plunged by a quarter to 592,000 barrels a day. That’s the lowest since March 2022, when the US — then Russia’s top buyer — banned oil imports from the nation following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Exports of refinery feedstocks like vacuum gasoil jumped to a five-month high of about 157,000 barrels a day, with the bulk of cargoes going to Asia.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.