Russia’s oil revenue has plunged as global crude prices tumble
Russia’s oil business has taken a hit, with the nation’s crude revenue dropping to its lowest levels in seven months, according to Argus Media data cited by Bloomberg.
Moscow, which relies on crude sales for a big chunk of its revenue, saw the gross value of its oil exports drop to $1.44 billion in the week ending September 8, down from $1.52 billion netted the prior week, the outlet reported. That’s the lowest amount Russia has netted from crude exports since January, despite the nation pumping out 40,000 more barrels of oil a day over the last week.
The decline has largely been fueled by plunging oil prices as the demand outlook falters amid predictions of a recession in the US, while US producers continue to pump record amounts of crude.
Urals crude, Russia’s flagship oil blend, has edged lower to $67.61 a barrel, down around 20% from its peak in the spring of this year.
Russia is also selling less oil than it did in the prior years, thanks to weaker demand from its Asian customers and oil pipeline disruptions to Hungary in August. Russia’s four-week average sales volume slumped to 3.13 million barrels a day as of September 8, down 30,000 barrels a day from the prior monthly average.
Observed Russian crude shipments to Asia, in particular, dropped to an average 2.92 million barrels a day in the month over that time frame, around 10% below the average shipped earlier this year, the report said.
Russia is set to make even steeper oil production cuts later in 2024, as part of OPEC’s goal to boost crude prices. The nation is planning to ramp up production cuts in October and November to make up for producing more than it promised earlier in the year, Russia’s Energy Ministry said in a post on Telegram, though it didn’t clarify how much further it would cut.
