Bloomberg: Drone attacks on refineries force Russia to export oil at capacity

Last month, Russian oil supplies by sea remained near a 16-month high. About writes Bloomberg.

The agency notes that Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil refineries are forcing Moscow to send more raw materials for export.

According to tanker monitoring, the average export volume from Russian ports in the four weeks to October 5 was 3.57 million barrels per day, only 80,000 less than the May 2024 high.

Due to attacks by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on at least 15 refineries in the European part of Russia, fuel production in the country has dropped to less than 5 million barrels per day, the lowest since April 2022. At the same time, crude oil exports increased by half a million barrels per day.

At the same time, Russia's ability to further increase exports is limited: key ports such as Primorsk, Novorossiysk, and Ust-Luga are already operating at almost full capacity.

Meanwhile, European countries are stepping up pressure on Russia's so-called "shadow fleet." France detained the Boracay tanker for violating international rules, and Denmark announced additional inspections of ships passing through its waters.

According to Bloomberg estimates, Russia's weekly revenue from maritime oil exports dropped to $1.53 billion, and the average price of Urals crude fell to about $54 per barrel.

• On September 11, it became known that Russia's revenues from the sale of crude oil and petroleum products in August decreased to one of the lowest levels since the beginning of the full-scale war against Ukraine.
• In 2025, the budget of Russia lost about $17 billion of oil and gas revenues.