Russia cuts seaborne oil supplies to three-month low
Russian seaborne oil supplies fell to the lowest level since May. In the four weeks through August 9, Russia exported an average of 3.71 million barrels of crude oil per day through seaports, according to tanker tracking data cited by Bloomberg.
The decline was especially noticeable in the latest reporting week. Average daily supplies fell to 3.25 million barrels, down from about 3.5 million barrels the week before. The average since the beginning of 2026 has been around 3.62 million barrels per day.
One reason for the export decrease was a partial recovery of Russian refineries following Ukrainian attacks. In the second half of July, the intensity of strikes directly on refineries temporarily declined, allowing plants to carry out repairs and increase processing. As a result, some of the oil that had previously gone for export again began flowing to domestic facilities.
The situation, however, could change again. In early August, Ukraine intensified strikes on Russian oil refining infrastructure. Five refineries were attacked in the first week of the month, and several more facilities came under fire later. A renewed drop in processing could free up additional volumes of crude oil for export.
Earlier attacks had already led to a sharp drop in the utilization of Russian refineries. In July, oil refining in Russia fell to its lowest level in more than 20 years, forcing companies to send more crude abroad. Thus, the current reduction in shipments marked a reversal of the previous trend.
The volume of Russian oil held on tankers at sea also decreased over the week, to about 107 million barrels. Meanwhile, shipments to India remain high: in July they were close to the June record of roughly 2.4 million barrels per day.
Despite the reduction in physical volumes, the gross value of seaborne exports barely changed and averaged about $1.7 billion per week over the past four weeks. Losses from lower shipments were offset by rising Russian oil prices.
The price of Urals crude for loading from Baltic ports rose by about $4.3 to an average of $63.8 per barrel, and in the Black Sea to about $62.7. The prices were calculated by Bloomberg based on data from Argus Media.
Based on materials from: Bloomberg
