Russian oil exports grow thanks to new tankers

Russia is increasing crude oil exports despite problems with unloading sanctions-hit cargoes.

Rosneft’s average monthly exports rose to 3.03 million barrels per day as of February 16 after supplies from the Pacific port of Kozmino resumed after a five-day storm, Bloomberg reported.

At least five tankers that began operating after the latest sanctions were imposed helped boost exports from the port of Kozmino last week. Six more vessels are anchored near the terminal awaiting loading.

In addition, new ships departed from Russia’s Baltic ports, which, combined with the recovery from the storm, led to the biggest increase in average monthly exports since April 2024. Overall, shipments rose 7% compared to the previous week.

Despite the increase in exports, Russian shippers are facing difficulties in unloading oil from sanctioned tankers. This is leading to increased use of ship-to-ship operations in international waters.

For example, three batches of Sokol crude oil exported from Sakhalin Island were transshipped to the supertanker Daban near the Russian port of Nakhodka. The vessel is currently anchored off the Chinese port of Yantai, but unloading has not yet begun. A fourth cargo was transshipped to the Aframax tanker Urgane I.

On the westward route, ships subject to US sanctions are now mostly used to transport oil from Murmansk. They are changing routes to North China or to floating storage facilities near the Persian Gulf.

One such tanker, the Meru, is currently in the Gulf of Oman, where Iranian oil is frequently transshipped. This location has also been used for Russian cargoes. None of the tankers under sanctions have yet unloaded in India or China.

In total, at least 32 tankers loaded 25.02 million barrels of Russian crude oil over the past week. For comparison, only 21 ships loaded 16.1 million barrels of raw material a week ago.

Daily crude oil flows increased by 1.27 million barrels per day (+55%) to 3.57 million barrels per day. The largest increases were observed in the ports of Kozmino and Ust-Luga.

Gross export value increased by 58% to $1.56 billion, the highest figure in the last three months. At the same time, prices for Urals oil were almost unchanged, while prices for Pacific ESPO oil increased by $1/barrel.

As USM reported the day before, an explosion occurred on a tanker in Italy that could be transporting Russian oil.