Russia's seaborne diesel and gasoil exports rose 19 per cent in January from the previous month to around four million tonnes as a seasonal drop in domestic demand prompted traders to ship more overseas, data from market sources and LSEG showed.
Exports however were 4.6 per cent below the level of January 2025 as maintenance, drone attacks and other factors affected output, the data showed.
Shipments of ultra-low-sulphur diesel via the Baltic port of Primorsk, Russia’s biggest port for diesel exports, jumped 32.4 per cent on the month to a record 2.256 million tonnes, supported by increased production, the sources said.
In contrast, diesel loadings from the southern port of Tuapse dropped last month by almost half to 230,000 tonnes after a drone attack on December 31 damaged equipment at Rosneft’s nearby export-oriented Tuapse refinery and one port berth.
The port resumed loadings about two weeks later, supplied by rail from other Rosneft-controlled refineries.
Turkey and Brazil remained the largest buyers of Russian diesel and gasoil last month, but tankers carrying around 0.7 million tonnes of fuel in total have yet to declare their discharge ports, LSEG data showed.
Another group of vessels carrying roughly 0.55 million tonnes of Russian diesel is heading towards anchorages near Port Said, Egypt and Cyprian Limassol.
Some of those cargoes could be reloaded via ship-to-ship transfers (STS) and potentially sent to Asian markets, traders said.
At least one tanker with around 100,000 tonnes of diesel loaded in Primorsk lists Malaysia as its destination.
Rising flows of Russian oil products into STS operations may be linked to intensifying Western sanctions pressure, market sources added.
Severe frosts in the Baltic Sea requiring Ice-class vessels, combined with planned maintenance on domestic refineries, could curb diesel exports from Russian ports in February, traders said.
(Reporting by Reuters in Moscow. Editing by Susan Fenton)
