Russia’s oil exports hit their highest level in 3 years in March

Russia’s oil exports rose to the highest level in three years in March, despite Western sanctions, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said today. The statement also indicated that revenues fell considerably compared to last year.

The IEA said total oil shipments from Russia increased last month by 600,000 barrels to 8.1 million barrels a day. Russia’s oil revenue, on the other hand, rose by $1 billion a month to $12.7 billion, down 43 percent from a year ago.

MOST EXPORTED TO CHINA, INDIA AND Türkiye

The Paris-based agency announced that most of the increase was due to an increase in exports of petroleum products, which returned to pre-pandemic levels. Russia’s crude exports increased to five million barrels per day.

China, India and Turkey are the main countries to which Russia exports petroleum products. Turkey’s imports of crude oil and petroleum products from Russia, which were 10.7 million tons in 2021, increased by 81 percent to 19.4 million tons in 2022.

RUSSIAN RESPONSE TO SANCTIONS

The West has imposed a series of sanctions on Moscow since the Ukraine-Russia war that began in February 2022. Price ceilings for oil and petroleum products, EU embargoes on Russian products and financial measures were some of these sanctions.

However, Russia resorted to various retaliations against the sanctions. OPEC+ partners surprised markets by announcing their own production cuts earlier this month, as Moscow retaliated by cutting oil production by 500,000 barrels per day.