Russia’s oil exports edged higher for a second week, with almost half of the tankers sanctioned by the United States in previous years now back transporting Russian oil, Bloomberg reports.
This was reported by the CFTS portal, citing the Ukrinform state news agency.
According to Bloomberg, crude-oil flows from all Russian ports rose to 3.26 million barrels per day in the four weeks to 27 April, up by 1% from the previous week, and flows remain about 190,000 barrels per day, or 6%, below the recent peak seen a month earlier.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has, so far, refrained from imposing additional sanctions on Russia, and several of the tankers sanctioned under President Joe Biden have resumed transporting Russian crude oil, Bloomberg wrote. According to the news agency, at least 18 of the 39 ships blacklisted by the U.S. in 2023 and 2024 are now regularly transporting crude oil from Russian ports after being idle since the imposition of the sanctions.
According to Bloomberg, the gross value of Russia’s exports rose for a second week, increasing by about USD 50 million or 4% to USD 1.33 billion in the week to 27 April, reflecting increases in both weekly average prices and shipments.
Export prices of Russian Urals crude oil from the Baltic rose by about USD 0.90 per barrel, cargoes loaded in the Black Sea rose by about USD 0.80 per barrel, and the price of key Pacific grade ESPO rose by about USD 1.50, the news agency wrote.
These figures exclude cargoes identified as Kazakhstan’s KEBCO grade. Those are shipments made by KazTransoil JSC that transit Russia for export through Novorossiysk and Ust-Luga and are not subject to European Union sanctions or a price cap. The Kazakh crude oil is blended with crude oil of Russian origin to create a uniform export stream. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Kazakhstan has rebranded its cargoes to distinguish them from those shipped by Russian companies.
