[Wen/Observer Network Wang Shichun] Despite continued drone attacks in Ukraine and increased sanctions from Europe and the United States, Russian crude oil seaborne volumes soared to their highest level in more than two years.
Bloomberg stated on October 15 that ship tracking data from Bloomberg statistics showed that as of October 12, the average shipment volume in Russian ports in the last four weeks was 3.74 million barrels per day, the highest level since June 2023.
On a four-week average, in the 28 days as of October 12, Moscow’s gross exports grew by about $60 million to $14.9 billion a week, the highest level in a year.
It is worth mentioning that, due to the European and U.S. sanctions, the total shipment of “destination unknown” is now 1.5 million barrels per day.
Despite the substantial growth in crude oil exports, faced with the continued U.S. drone attacks, Russian oil processing exports have experienced significant volatility this year.
Industry data and Reuters calculations showed that Russia's seaborne petroleum product exports fell 17.1% in September from August to 7.58 million tons. That month, Russian oil deliveries increased by 370,000 barrels per day, while the supply of petroleum products decreased by 170,000 barrels per day. Except for April 2020, petroleum product indicators fell to a low level in the past decade, mainly due to reduced supplies of diesel and fuel oil.
Reuters said the reason was that several refineries were affected by drone attacks, resulting in a reduction in fuel production. In August and September, several major oil refineries, including the Surgut Oil and Gas Company (SNGS), were attacked by Ukrainian drones.
However, despite a significant decline in marine oil exports, the overall Russian oil export earnings were not affected.
The International Energy Agency reported that in September 2025, Russian oil and petroleum products exports increased by 2.76% month-on-month to 7.44 million barrels per day. Meanwhile, revenues from export supplies fell 1.7% to $13.35 billion. Compared with last September, Russia's oil export revenue decreased by approximately US $720 million.