Sea export of Russian oil falls by 22% in a week

Last week, an average of 2.86 million barrels of oil per day left Russian ports, according to Bloomberg ship tracking data. This is 22% lower than the average daily volume just a week prior. In addition, this is a record low volume for the last 5 months. Europe’s energy sector is already suffering from a lack of resources. Even more supply cuts could accelerate the recession that economists are predicting.

Oil exports have fallen because China, India and other Asian countries are buying less fuel. For some Russian oil ships we have no known destination. Perhaps they went to Asian territories. But even with this assumption, the average daily export of oil to Asia is less than two weeks ago.

Of course, one cannot draw far-reaching conclusions from just one week worth of data. However, deliveries to Asia are now more important for Russia than ever: in December, the European Union will impose an embargo on Russian oil.