Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Friday Russia’s oil exports reached 238 million metric tons in 2025 with around 80 per cent of the volumes dispatched to China and India.
This is broadly on par with 240 million tons, or 4.8 million barrels per day, Russia exported in 2024.
Russia had to divert oil exports from Europe, which used to be its main market for commodity supplies, due to destruction of economic and political ties with the West following the start of the military conflict in Ukraine in 2022.
Novak said Russian oil exports to Europe last year was only 25 million tons, down from 175 million tons Russia exported to the region before the Western sanctions over Ukraine.
Russia has faced challenges in exporting its oil due the Western sanctions and has had to offer a lower price for its oil in comparison to international benchmarks to attract demand.
Russia’s flagship Urals oil blend was being sold from its Baltic ports at the
deepest discounts
for around three years compared to the global benchmark Brent crude, according to Reuters data.
Novak said Russia seeks to narrow that gap to around $10 per barrel.
