Russian fuel exports fall in 2024 as drone attacks, bans add to sanctions pressure

Tatneft Imeni V.D. Shashina PAO

17/01/2025 17:00

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      Ukrainian drone attacks damage refineries, sources say
    

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      Russian ban on gasoline exports also affected flows
    

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      Rising interest rates also prompted export cuts, traders
say
    

  
 (Updates throughout, adds bpd conversion)
       MOSCOW, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Russian seaborne oil product
exports fell by almost 10% in 2024 after Ukrainian drone attacks
damaged major refineries and as higher funding costs and a
government gasoline export ban added to pressure from Western
sanctions, industry sources said.
    Russia, one of the world's largest oil and fuel exporters
alongside Saudi Arabia and the U.S., has been trying to access
new markets in Asia and South America since the West imposed
sanctions over Moscow's military move on Ukraine in 2022. 
    Lower fuel exports mean Russia's oil firms have to boost
exports of crude to maintain revenues, but such options are
limited to just India, China and Turkey, which still buy Russian
crude despite sanctions and have their own big refineries.
    Total Russian exports of all fuels including fuel oil,
diesel, naphtha and jet kerosene stood at 113.7 million metric
tons last year, down 9.1% from 2023, two market sources told
Reuters, citing export data.
    The 2024 export figure would amount to approximately 2.3
million barrels per day if the 7.33 crude oil conversion ratio
of ton to barrel is used. The exact breakdown of products - all
of which use a different conversion ratio - was not known.
    Russia's overall oil processing fell to around 267 million
metric tons (5.4 million bpd) in 2024, its lowest level since
2012, due to unplanned outages and weaker refining margins,
Reuters calculations based on data from market sources showed.
    
    DRONE ATTACKS
    Ukraine attacked several Russian refineries and fuel
facilities, including Lukoil's  LKOH.MM  Volgograd refinery,
Gazprom Neft's  SIBN.MM  Omsk oil refinery in western Siberia,
the Slavyansk and Novoshakhtinsk refineries and Rosneft's
 ROSN.MM  Black Sea oil refinery in Tuapse. 
    The refineries also came under pressure due to falling fuel
prices, rising interest rates and Russia's ban on gasoline
exports, market sources said.
    Total oil product exports via the Baltic ports of Primorsk,
Vysotsk, St. Petersburg and Ust-Luga fell by 9% in 2024 from the
previous year to 61.96 million tons, data showed.
    Fuel exports via Russia's Black Sea and Azov Sea ports fell
to 42.75 million tons, down 10% from 2023.
    Exports via the Russian Black Sea port of Tuapse fell by a
third to 9.1 million tons due to outages after drone attacks,
suspended processing and decreased refining at Rosneft's
refinery, market sources told Reuters.
    Meanwhile, exports through the Black Sea port of
Novorossiisk rose 4% to 19 million tons, data showed.
    Oil product export supplies from Russia's Arctic ports of
Murmansk and Arkhangelsk fell to 1.01 million tons, down 14%,
while fuel export loadings at Far East ports fell 3% from 2023
to 7.97 million tons.
    Russia's seaborne oil product exports rose 10.8% month on
month in December to 10.37 million tons, including 4.17 million
tons loaded via Russia's Black Sea and Azov Sea ports, 5.49
million tons through Baltic Sea ports and 637,100 tons via
Russia`s Far East ports, data from sources and Reuters
calculations showed.  

 (Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Alexander Smith)