Russian oil exports fall to lowest level since April – media

Russia has cut its seaborne oil exports for the fifth week in a row, with shipments falling to their lowest level since late April amid drone attacks in the Black Sea.

This is reported by Bloomberg.

The drop was particularly noticeable last week. In Novorossiysk, one of the main Russian ports on the Black Sea, not a single tanker was loaded with oil during that time.

Russia has exported an average of 3.58 million barrels of oil per day by sea over the past four weeks. This is the fifth consecutive week of decline in shipments, the largest decline since the start of a full-scale war.

In the past, strikes on Russian refineries had the opposite effect. Since refineries could not process the usual volumes of raw materials, Russia sent more oil for export.

Now the situation has changed. Bloomberg suggests that one of the reasons is the strikes not only on refineries, but also on ships and port infrastructure.

Russia’s oil output has also been declining amid the attacks. Last month, it fell to 8.89 million barrels per day, the lowest level in six years. That’s almost a million barrels less than Russia is allowed to produce under agreements with OPEC+ partners.

Despite the decline in recent weeks, Russia is still exporting quite large volumes of oil. Deliveries over the past four weeks are only slightly below the average for the year. Overall, Russian exports in 2026 remain higher than in previous years since the start of the full-scale invasion.

There is also less Russian oil on tankers at sea. As of August 16, there were about 94 million barrels there – the least since September last year.

Meanwhile, Russia continues to actively supply oil to India. Last month, supplies amounted to about 2.4 million barrels per day and remained close to the record level of June.

It was previously reported that the tanker Skiros was attacked in the Black Sea , which had previously loaded Russian oil at a terminal near Novorossiysk. No one was injured in the attack, and no oil leaked.

As a reminder, since the beginning of August, Ukrainian drones have attacked 10 of Russia’s 34 major oil refineries. This represents almost a third of the industry’s enterprises.