Russian oil production has not been interrupted, despite the threats

In the news: Russia has not shipped significantly fewer barrels of crude oil than usual in recent weeks, indicating that it is not cutting production.

• Russia’s news agency reported that last week Russia exported about 3.23 million barrels per day by sea bloomberg. This represents a decrease of only 90 thousand barrels per day compared to the previous week.
• The four-week average also recorded a slight decrease of 90,000 barrels per day. Over the past four weeks, an average of 3.32 million barrels per day has been shipped from Russia. The four-week average gives a clearer picture, as it is less volatile than the weekly average, which can fluctuate more.
• Another sign: The number of barrels of oil stored in the country exceeded 15 million for the first time since April last year. This also indicates that Russia is not immediately producing less oil.

Who buys all this oil?

I noticed: Although the European Union no longer imports Russian crude oil by sea, the Kremlin has found other markets for the substance.

• After the European ban came into force on December 5, 2022, total exports briefly fell from 3 million to 2.5 million barrels per day in January this year. However, the number has risen sharply since then.
• This is mainly due to the increase in exports to Asian countries. Almost 3 million barrels are exported to the continent every day, which is much more than it was before the European embargo was implemented. In this way, Russia compensates for the loss of demand from Europe.
• Before the war, Europe imported about one and a half million barrels of crude oil per day from Russia. On the other hand, Asia imported only about 1 million barrels per day.
• The barrels mainly flow to China and India, which sell them at a price Big drop in price to purchase.

(Dr)