Russian seaborne crude exports retreat from three-year highs: shipping data

Shafaq News/ Russian seaborne crude exports have fallen below post-pandemic highs set in April and May but continue to flow above pre-war levels, according to shipping data, despite Western sanctions designed to hurt Moscow's oil revenues.

Shipped crude exports averaged 3.34 million b/d from July 1-18, according to preliminary data from vessel analytics provider Kpler, down 300,000 b/d from the 3.64 million b/d average in June and a recent peak of 3.89 million b/d in April.

India and China remain Russian biggest customers as their refiners snap up discounted Russian crude supplies, while most Western buyers cut their reliance on Moscow's oil, the data shows.

During the first week of July, weekly arrivals of Russian crude in India surpassed 1 million b/d for the first time as a total of 10 cargoes had unloaded in the country. Reliance and Nayara Energy had absorbed two cargoes each, while the rest had arrived for the state-run refiners, mainly Indian Oil Corporation. This includes 721,000 barrels of ESPO blend which had arrived in India for only the second time on record, following a three-week voyage from the Russian Far East port of Kozmino, according to S&P Global Commodities at Sea data.

Meanwhile, Russian crude exports to the Netherlands -- home of the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp refining hub -- remain elevated, rising almost 40,000 b/d from June at 362,000 in July so far, the data shows.

Although the EU's imports of Russian crude have fallen more than 1 million b/d vs pre-war levels, Russia is still the biggest source of the trade bloc's shipped crude with more than 1.8 million b/d of flows to the region in early July. The data confirms that the US, Norway, Egypt, Iraq, Brazil, and Angola have become key alternative crude suppliers to the EU, collectively supplying an additional 1 million b/d extra crude since February.

Source: S&P Global