Russian oil exports via tankers fell to their lowest levels

Russian oil exports via tankers fell last week to their lowest levels since last November, after the latest package of tough US sanctions on Russian oil trade came into effect, in light of indications that the sanctions approved by former US President Joe Biden have begun to affect Russian oil flows.
Bloomberg News Agency indicated that the decline in exports during the past week led to a decline in the average daily exports during the past four less volatile weeks to less than three million barrels for the fourth week in a row and approaching their lowest levels in 16 months, according to Bloomberg data tracking maritime transport movement.

Russian oil

Since the announcement of the latest US sanctions package on the sector, there have been many signs of disruption to exports, as tankers have diverted their destinations and buyers are looking for other sources of oil, with a shortage of non-sanctioned ships available to load crude from the port of Kozmino, in the far east of Russia and most important for Russian oil exports.
US sanctions are expected to have a particularly strong impact on Russia’s trans-Pacific crude flows. About three-quarters of the oil pipeline shipments from Siberian fields to the Pacific coast that have been shipped since the beginning of October have been transported on ships that have now been subject to sanctions, while fleets of tankers specialized in transporting the production of the Sakhalin 1 and 2 oil and gas projects have been blacklisted. .

US sanctions

At the same time, it is expected that the impact of these sanctions during the coming period will be determined by the severity of their implementation by the new administration in Washington.
According to Bloomberg estimates, Russian crude flows to foreign markets decreased in the seven days until January 19 by about 260,000 barrels per day, or 9%, from the previous week, to record 2.75 million barrels per day.
Decreased flows from the country’s ports on the Black Sea, the Arctic and the Pacific Ocean were partially offset by increased shipments from the port of Primorsk on the Baltic Sea.
Flows from the smaller Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga remained low after an unexpected drop in late December. While Russian exports from the most important Pacific port of Kozmino rose slightly, they remained depressed as a result of strong winds that reached 30 miles per hour in the middle of last week.