Russia’s seaborne crude oil shipments bounced back to a seven-week high in August, with China stepping up purchases even as flows to India slowed sharply following US sanctions pressure.
According to tanker-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg, average weekly crude exports from Russian ports rose by 770,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 3.49 million bpd in the week to August 31, pulling up the four-week average to 3.15 million bpd.
The rebound came after US President Donald Trump’s decision to double tariffs on Indian exports to 50 per cent, in retaliation for New Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian oil. The move appears to have dampened India’s imports despite official resistance to Washington’s pressure.
Crude shipments to India dropped to under 1.3 million bpd in the four weeks to August 31, down nearly one-third from the recent peak in March. Even if all undirected tankers currently at sea head to India, flows would still be about 550,000 bpd — or 28 per cent — below March levels.
China, by contrast, has absorbed a larger share, with Russian crude deliveries climbing to a five-month high of 1.28 million bpd.
Supplies from Russia’s Sakhalin-2 project resumed after a four-week outage, likely linked to maintenance, while Baltic flows through Ust-Luga partially recovered following drone attack damage to a pumping station, with additional cargoes redirected to Primorsk.
The rise in shipments comes despite continued Ukrainian drone and missile strikes on Russian refineries, which may be forcing Moscow to divert more crude to overseas markets instead of processing domestically.
