Russia is struggling to deliver all of the crude it’s being forced to ship overseas in the face of escalating Ukrainian drone strikes on its refineries.
Nearly 135 million barrels of Russian crude oil are currently stranded at sea as a result of Ukraine’s airstrike campaign targeting refineries with the intent to cripple crude processing. The offshore backlog is forcing Moscow to significantly ramp up export volumes according to OilPrice.com.
Intensive Ukrainian drone strikes, including recent hits on the Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat and Afipsky processing facilities, have knocked out roughly one-third of Russian domestic refining capacity bringing it to ~3.91 million barrels per day, the lowest level seen since 2005.
As a result, Moscow is now being forced to divert more barrels to international markets despite the country pumping just 8.93 million barrels a day in June--roughly 830,000 b/d below its OPEC+ quota.
However, major export hubs are experiencing massive gridlock with limited buyers of sanctioned Russian crude, with Sokol and Sakhalin Blend cargoes facing week-long delays transferring from shuttle tankers to ocean-going vessels, while ESPO crude is piling up near the Kozmino terminal.
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