Russian fuel exports climb as diesel curbs ease, refiners return

Russia’s oil product exports are set to rebound this month, after the government eased temporary export restrictions on road fuels and the country’s refineries completed seasonal maintenance.

Refined fuel shipments totaled 2.25 million barrels a day in the first 25 days of this month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from analytics firm Vortexa Ltd. That’s up about 160,000 barrels a day from October, led by bigger flows of diesel and fuel oil.

Russia’s pact with OPEC+ is to curb its combined exports of crude and refined fuels, meaning outflows of oil products are critical to its compliance. Russia’s seaborne crude exports rose in the latest week, although the four-week average flow slipped.

This month’s pickup in refined petroleum exports comes after flows in October slid to the lowest since 2020. The end of planned maintenance and the lifting of restrictions on exports of  summer-grade diesel and gasoline have prompted refiners to ramp-up run rates to a three-month high, aiding fuel flows.

Here’s a breakdown of oil product shipments from the country’s ports for Nov. 1-25: 

Exports of diesel and gasoil climbed about 7% from October’s total to a three-month high of 860,000 barrels a day. However, shipments remain 16% below year-earlier levels as some curbs on exports of winter-grade diesel remain in place.

Brazil has overtaken Turkey to become the top destination of Russian diesel so far in November, while shipments to China and Egypt have also risen.

Naphtha shipments remain largely unchanged this month at about 369,000 barrels a day. Gasoline and blending components exports dropped about 14% to 57,000 barrels a day, while jet fuel flows climbed to 30,000 barrels a day.

Increased crude processing at Russia’s less complex refineries with high fuel-oil yields has also likely pushed up supplies of dirty refined products. Fuel oil exports have advanced roughly 9% to a seven-month high of 795,000 barrels a day. Shipments of refinery feedstocks like vacuum gasoil jumped more than 40% to 138,000 barrels a day, the most since August.

Cargo volumes and destinations are likely to be revised as more shipments are observed for the rest of the month.