Russians export oil in large quantities

Losses for Russia, but not massive

Russia's seaborne crude oil exports from its western ports to Asian countries, especially India and China, rose again to more than 1 million barrels per day and could increase further. However, overall crude oil shipments remained virtually unchanged until 13 May as European Union countries continue to argue over a planned ban on Russian oil imports following the country's invasion of Ukraine. A total of 35 tankers loaded about 24.9 million barrels from Russian export terminals, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg and reports from port agents. This brought the average seaborne shipment of crude oil to 3.55 million barrels per day, down less than 0.5 % from 3.56 million barrels per day in the week ended 6 May. The latest data was characterised by long haul shipments. Eight tankers that loaded crude oil in Russia's western ports this week travelled to Asia, with another four heading to the Suez Canal. In the previous week there were a total of five ships.

Despite stable flows, Moscow's revenues from export duties fell slightly as the lower May export duty rate applied to the entire week's shipments, compared to six out of seven days in the previous week. At current export duty rates for crude oil, this week's shipments earned the Kremlin around $ 169 million, down $ 7 million from the previous week and the lowest weekly figure in seven weeks.
Russia exports crude oil from four main areas: the Baltic Sea in north-west Europe, the Black Sea, the Arctic and the terminals on its Pacific coast.

Bloomberg regularly publishes a weekly series tracking the shipment of crude oil from Russian export terminals and the resulting revenue the Russian government receives from export duties.

Source: bloomberg, gcaptasin