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.
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.