Russia’s Crude Exports Slide Again to Hit a Seven-Month Low

Shipments from Baltic ports are down by 41% since mid-June

Russia shipped 3.06 million barrels a day of crude in the four weeks to July 21.

Photographer: Carolina Cabral/Bloomberg
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Russia’s four-week average crude exports fell for a third week, dropping to the lowest since December amid a plunge that cut 620,000 barrels a day from the recent peak in April. Flow are set to dip further.

Weekly shipments from the country’s Baltic ports of Primorsk and Ust-Luga have shrunk by 41% in the five weeks since mid-June. The decline likely stems from Russia’s improving complianceBloomberg Terminal with an OPEC+ output target, coupled with a recovery in domestic refining that’s on course to reach a six-month highBloomberg Terminal in July. A Ukrainian drone attack on Rosneft’s Tuapse refinery may undermine some of that progress.