Authored by Charles Kennedy via Oilprice.com,
Refinery production figures, export contracts and tanker routes are now off-limits to public reporting in Russia, under a decree Putin signed Monday, Reuters reported. The Kremlin points to unfriendly actions by Washington and its allies as the reason, and the restrictions took effect on signing, with the government given 10 days to define exactly which product codes are covered.
Data on refining volumes at Russian plants is now restricted, along with contract details, including product names, quantities, prices, buyers, sellers, payment terms, shipping routes, and vessel coordinates at export terminals. Customs statistics and planned sales volumes on commodity exchanges fall under the same rule. None of it can appear "through mass media or internet networks," per the decree text, unless a company chooses to disclose its own figures.
Moscow classified crude output data after annexing Crimea in 2014 and tightened that secrecy again after invading Ukraine in 2022. Monday's decree does the same for refining and logi
