Russia's crude oil exports from its main western ports were higher than expected in early June, as repeated drone attacks on refineries freed up extra volumes to ship, trade and port sources said, supported by Reuters calculations.
Russia was planning to cut its crude oil exports in June to boost refinery runs and cover fuel shortages, but struggled to do so as Ukraine stepped up its campaign of drone strikes, targeting major facilities including the TANECO refining complex and the Moscow refinery.
Loadings from Russia’s Baltic ports of Primorsk and Ust-Luga, together with the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, averaged about 2.3 million barrels per day in the first half of June, according to three sources familiar with port operations and trading flows.
That compares with around 1.7 million bpd in a preliminary forecast for the full month, putting the average daily export rate from the three key western outlets — Primorsk, Ust-Luga and Novorossiysk — roughly 35 per cent above the planned monthly total in the first half of June.
Despite the increase, shipments remain below May's export level of about 2.5 million bpd, the sources said. They added that full-month figures could still approach May levels if further refinery outages occur due to unplanned maintenance.
Traders also noted that attacks on Russia's port infrastructure could curb export volumes later this month. Novorossiysk, Russia's largest Black Sea oil port, came under drone attack on Wednesday, Mayor Andrei Kravchenko said on social media.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Jan Harvey)