Russia’s War Chest Hammered as Oil Flows and Prices Plunge
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Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the worldAmericas+1 212 318 2000EMEA+44 20 7330 7500Asia Pacific+65 6212 1000Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the worldAmericas+1 212 318 2000EMEA+44 20 7330 7500Asia Pacific+65 6212 1000Crude shipments registered their biggest week-on-week drop since the invasion of UkraineRussia shipped 3.61 million barrels a day of crude in the four weeks to Dec. 14, after the biggest week-on-week slump in shipments since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.Russia’s war chest is being hammered by the double-whammy of a slump in oil shipments and a continuing decline in prices, sending the value of crude exports to the lowest since January 2023.Four-week average crude flows fell in the period to Dec. 14, driven by the biggest week-on-week slump in flows since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Offloading cargoes is proving even more of a challenge, with crude at sea jumping 40% since the end of August and at least 20 cargoes loaded at the country’s western ports in September and October still undelivered. Numerous tankers have disappeared from tracking systems in the Riau archipelago, northeast of Singapore, a favored location for transferring sanctioned Iranian barrels between vessels that’s growing in popularity among carriers of Moscow’s crude. Tracks suggest that at least six Russian cargo switches have taken place there since November, with another six fully-laden tankers disappearing in the area so far this month.