(Bloomberg) -- Russia’s oil product exports dropped to a four-month low in August, mainly due to a sharp slide in diesel shipments.
Refined seaborne fuel flows averaged 2 million barrels a day in August, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from analytics firm Vortexa Ltd. That’s down 11% from July and one of the smallest amounts in recent years.
Diesel and gasoil volumes — which account for roughly 40% of all Russian exports — slumped to the lowest since October, when outflows were limited as Moscow banned diesel shipments to stabilize domestic fuel supply. The drop came as Russia diverted more supplies to its own market amid an outage at a refinery in Belarus that typically sends fuel to its neighbor, Vortexa said.
Russian oil exports are being closely watched by the market to assess output volumes since the government stopped publishing official output data. Russia’s average seaborne crude flows slipped to the lowest in almost a month in the four weeks to Sept. 1
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies are close to an agreement on delaying a planned increase in oil production after prices plunged amid fragile demand, according to delegates who asked not to be identified. Still, Russia had pledged to make extra crude production cuts in October and November to compensate for pumping above its OPEC+ target earlier this year.
The drop in Russia’s monthly flows “looks to have been due to a key outage at the Mozyr refinery in Belarus which supplies a relevant portion of the Russian market,” said Pamela Munger, a senior market analyst at Vortexa. “Diesel produced in Russia was held back from the export market to supply the domestic market.”
Naphtha and gasoline exports also declined last month, while fuel oil shipments rose slightly and jet fuel volumes more than trebled.
Here’s a breakdown of shipments from Russian ports in August:
Diesel and gasoil exports dropped 20% from a month earlier to about 760,000 barrels a day. Most cargoes are heading to Turkey, Africa and South America.
Naphtha shipments declined 6% to less than 406,000 barrels a day, the lowest since June. A drop in Asia-bound cargoes offset increased shipments to South America.
Gasoline and blending component exports tumbled almost 70% to just 30,000 barrels a day, while jet fuel shipments jumped to 56,000 barrels a day.
Fuel oil flows climbed marginally to a six-month high of about 694,000 barrels a day. Almost half of those barrels sailed for Asia, while cargoes to Africa more than doubled. Shipments of refinery feedstocks like vacuum gasoil slumped 23% to 90,000 barrels a day.
Cargo volumes and destinations are likely to be revised if more port data or vessel information becomes available.
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