Russia’s Crude Shipments Slump on Lower Arctic, Black Sea Flows

Wedoany.com Report-Nov 6, Russia’s seaborne crude exports plunged in the latest week, with the biggest decline since early July dragging down the four-week average.

Weekly flows dropped by about 530,000 barrels a day in the period to Nov. 3, as Russia made no shipments from the Arctic port of Murmansk and just one from Novorossiysk on the Black Sea. Four-week exports fell by 90,000 barrels a day, extending their decline for a second week, despite major ports on the Baltic and Pacific coasts operating near peak levels.

The drop in cargoes from Novorossiysk mirrors a four-day gap in the loading program; such periods often indicate maintenance at a port or on the pipelines serving it. The slump in Arctic shipments may simply be a reflection of scheduling, with three tankers loading the previous week and four more at, or very close to, Murmansk fjord by the end of the most recent period. 

Russia’s primary refining rate rose sharply in the final week of October, as seasonal maintenance passed its peak. That likely reduced the volume of crude available for export.

India’s Petroleum Minister Hardeep Puri says his country, already the largest market for Moscow’s seaborne crude, can further boost oil imports from Russia if prices are right, adding that there had recently been a small decline, with other sources becoming more competitive. Russia now provides 38% of India’s crude imports, he added.