Drone attacks and sanctions did not prevent growth of russian oil exports

Russian oil exports are growing despite sanctions and Ukrainian drone strikes on refining plants.

This is reported by Delo.ua with reference to the Bloomberg publication.

The report says that russian crude oil supplies have reached a three-month maximum. This was due to an increase in exports from the port of Novorossiysk amid increased attacks by Ukrainian drones.

Damage to oil refineries in russia has led to the fact that a significant part of the crude oil that was previously sent for processing is now available for export.

In the four-week period to September 7, seaborne oil exports increased by 4% compared to the previous period, averaging 3.34 million barrels per day.

Russia has likely redirected some of its crude to Novorossiysk and the Baltic port of Primorsk to ease export disruptions after the Ukrainian military used drones to damage pipeline infrastructure and plants linked to the Ust-Luga oil terminal in late August.

Supplies from Novorossiysk have risen to 855,000 barrels per day, the highest since early 2022.

Oil exports are rising amid discussions of new sanctions against russia.

In particular, there is talk of the possibility of imposing tariffs on India and China, which are major buyers of russian oil.

Russia has seen significant reductions in refinery capacity due to repeated strikes by Ukrainian drones.

Oil refinery throughput in August fell to its lowest level since May 2022, freeing up additional oil for export.

Russian authorities are considering extending a ban on gasoline exports to avoid shortages in the domestic market.

According to vessel tracking data and reports from port agents, 36 tankers loaded 27.33 million barrels of russian crude last week.

The volume was up from a revised 25.92 million barrels on 34 vessels the previous week.

Exports rose only from Novorossiysk.

From Primorsk, they remained steady at around 1.15 million barrels per day with 11 tankers loading.

Meanwhile, flows from the Ust-Luga terminal have recovered to 626,000 barrels per day.

Moscow's gross export value rose by about USD 59 million, or 4%, to about USD 1.56 billion for the week.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, the aggressor country of russia has expanded its shadow fleet of tankers for transporting oil, despite a number of Western sanctions previously imposed to prevent this.