Russia's oil exports rose this month thanks to increased diesel and naphtha flows after domestic refiners increased their operations, with total shipments from Russia averaging 2.4 million barrels per day in the four weeks ending Dec. 17. According to data compiled by Bloomberg from Fortexa, the highest level of export volume since mid-September and more volatile weekly flows showed a jump in exports to exceed 3 million barrels per day, at its highest level since last March.
Oil markets have been closely monitoring Russian exports to gauge production volume since Moscow stopped announcing official production data. At the most recent meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, the country pledged to deepen the cut in exports of crude oil and petroleum products during the first quarter of next year. Also, flows of seaborne Russian crude rose to about 3.28 million barrels per day in the four weeks ending Dec. 17.
The surge in refined fuel flows comes at a time when the crude processing rate at Russian refineries jumped to its highest since last April, while diesel and diesel shipments continued to rise weekly during December after export restrictions on auto fuel were eased.
