{"id":33397,"date":"2026-08-26T05:20:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T05:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/33397\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T05:20:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T05:20:13","slug":"ukraines-double-barreled-drone-strikes-snarl-russian-oil-flows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/33397\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine’s Double-Barreled Drone Strikes Snarl Russian Oil Flows"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Bloomberg) — Ukraine\u2019s two-pronged attacks on Russia\u2019s oil refineries and Black Sea ports are hitting the country\u2019s fuel supplies and at the same time preventing Moscow from diverting crude into exports.<\/p>\n

In the four weeks through Aug. 23, overseas crude flows fell to 3.46 million barrels a day, tanker-movements data compiled by Bloomberg show. Shipments had previously risen as the strikes on Russia\u2019s refineries left more crude available for export, but that increase is now unwinding,\u00a0after drone hits on oil tankers cut shipments from the Black Sea.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s led Moscow to\u00a0redirect Kazakh barrels to its Black Sea port at Novorossiysk in order to free up space for its own crude at the Baltic Ust-Luga terminal, which is seen as less vulnerable to Kyiv\u2019s attacks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, strikes on Russian\u00a0oil and gas processing plants\u00a0continue to be an almost nightly occurrence, sending crude processing rates tumbling and creating domestic\u00a0gasoline supply issues.\u00a0Falling Russian crude shipments come on top of Kremlin-imposed bans on overseas shipments of key refined products, including most gasoline, diesel and jet fuel supplies, which are further reducing\u00a0inflows to Moscow’s war chest.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

During previous periods of heightened strikes on refineries, Russia was able to divert crude that couldn\u2019t be processed domestically into the export stream. But that doesn\u2019t appear to happening this time around, with production rates taking the strain.<\/p>\n

Output fell\u00a0to 8.89 million barrels a day last month, the lowest\u00a0in six years, according to secondary source estimates published by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. That was almost 1 million barrels a day below the country\u2019s permitted production level under a long-running agreement with\u00a0its OPEC+ allies.<\/p>\n

Even after the recent plunge, however, Russia\u2019s seaborne crude exports remain relatively strong. Shipments so far in 2026 are running about 9% above the highest average for any year since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.<\/p>\n

Crude Shipments<\/p>\n

In the week to Aug.\u00a023, some 33 tankers loaded 24.79 million barrels of Russian crude, vessel-tracking data and port-agent reports show. The volume compared with a revised 23.84 million barrels on the same number of ships the previous week.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Shipments resumed at Novorossiysk, but loading operations remained well below normal levels.<\/p>\n

Weekly shipments can be volatile, affected by weather, maintenance work, sanctions, military activity and the timing of departures.<\/p>\n

There was one\u00a0shipment\u00a0of Kazakhstan\u2019s Kebco grade from Ust-Luga and two from Novorossiysk during the week.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

The amount of Russian\u00a0crude at sea fell further in the week to Aug. 23, dropping to about 83 million barrels, the lowest in a year. With voyage times of at least a month for Baltic Urals cargoes to reach India, deliveries continue to reflect higher levels of shipments in past weeks, drawing more crude off the water than is being loaded.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

The amount of Russian crude on the water is now back at levels seen before the surge that began with tougher US rhetoric on possible sanctions against buyers of Moscow\u2019s oil late last year.<\/p>\n

Export Value<\/p>\n

On a four-week average basis,\u00a0the gross value of Moscow\u2019s exports slipped to $1.65\u00a0billion a week in the 28 days to Aug.\u00a023, down by $80 million a week from the revised figure for the period to Aug.\u00a016. The drop was driven by lower\u00a0crude flows, with only small changes in prices for Russia\u2019s key crudes.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

On a weekly basis,\u00a0the value of exports rose by about $100 million, driven by a combination of increased flows and higher prices.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Flows by Destination\u00a0<\/p>\n

China and India remain the biggest buyers of Russian crude by a considerable margin. But it\u2019s not always possible to assign a final destination to individual cargoes until well into their voyage, leaving many of the more recent shipments on tankers showing interim destinations, such as Suez or Port Sudan, marked as \u201cUnknown Asia.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Observed shipments to Russia\u2019s Asian customers, including those showing no final destination, slipped to\u00a03.29 million barrels a day in the 28 days\u00a0to Aug.\u00a023, down from 3.43 million in the period to Aug.\u00a016.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Flows to Turkey, Russia\u2019s biggest buyer west of Suez, in the period to Aug. 23 slipped to about 100,000 barrels a day, down from a revised 130,000 barrels a day for the period to Aug. 16.<\/p>\n

Flows to Syria averaged about 40,000 barrels a day, unchanged from the period to Aug.\u00a016, while shipments to Egypt, Russia\u2019s newest east Mediterranean customer,\u00a0were also unchanged, at about 30,000 barrels a day, in the four-week period, half the level seen during the 28 days to Aug. 9.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\u00a92026 Bloomberg L.P.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Bloomberg) — Ukraine\u2019s two-pronged attacks on Russia\u2019s oil refineries and Black Sea ports are hitting the country\u2019s fuel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8677,8688,8594,8670,8691,8690,8596,8648,5321,8619,8591,8653,8605,8650,8651,8643,8592,8654,3647,8587,8675,8607,8635,8634,8665,8642,8600,8646,8655,1901,8588,8638,1903,8582,8661,8590,3459,8652,8656,6819,3359,8632,8589,8666,78,8664,8673,8601,5659,8608,8637,8609,8602,8604,8610,3026,8611,8636,4688,8614,8613,8668,8687,8618,8678,8686,8689,8683,8679,8684,8685,8676,8644,8623,8625,8620,8622,8621,8624,8626,7476,8681,8649,8682,5680,8639,8671,1376,8597,1386,8583,8585,653,2247,8645,8627,8657,8606,8669,8633,8603,8584,8595,8680,8674,8647,8628,8629,8630,8640,8598,4690,1895,8612,8662,68,8663,792,8672,5687,1894,8667,8616,269,8631,8617,8658,26,8660,196,32,1102,8599,8641,8615,8586,8659,8593],"class_list":["post-33397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-biofuels","tag-blue-hydrogen","tag-brent","tag-carbon","tag-carbon-offset","tag-carbon-price","tag-clean-energy","tag-clean-energy-fuels-stock-price","tag-climate-change","tag-coal","tag-crude","tag-crude-oil-and-natural-gas-prices","tag-crude-oil-current-news","tag-crude-oil-market","tag-crude-price-current","tag-crude-price-oil","tag-crude-prices","tag-current-oil-and-gas-prices","tag-decarbonisation","tag-department-of-energy","tag-diesel-fuel","tag-digital-technology-in-oil-and-gas","tag-digital-twins","tag-digitalisation","tag-diversity","tag-dmg-events","tag-drilling","tag-drilling-oil","tag-dubai-oil-companies","tag-electricity","tag-electricity-capacity","tag-emissions","tag-energy","tag-energy-connects","tag-energy-industry-philippines","tag-energy-market","tag-energy-markets","tag-energy-offshore-today","tag-energy-oil-and-gas","tag-energy-policy","tag-energy-security","tag-energy-trade","tag-energy-transition","tag-equity","tag-eu","tag-european-union-energy-drilling","tag-exploration-and-production","tag-exploration-of-oil-and-gas","tag-fuels","tag-future-in-oil-and-gas-industry","tag-future-of-energy","tag-future-of-oil-gas-industry","tag-future-of-oil-and-gas","tag-future-of-oil-and-gas-industry","tag-future-technology-in-oil-and-gas-industry","tag-gas","tag-gas-and-oil-industry","tag-gas-well","tag-gasoline","tag-geothermal","tag-green-energy","tag-green-finance","tag-green-hydrogen","tag-hydrocarbon","tag-hydrogen","tag-hydrogen-adnoc","tag-hydrogen-bond","tag-hydrogen-companies","tag-hydrogen-energy","tag-hydrogen-production","tag-hydrogen-uae","tag-hydropwer","tag-latest-crude-price","tag-latest-energy-news","tag-latest-energy-technology-news","tag-latest-offshore-news","tag-latest-oil-gas-news","tag-latest-onshore-news","tag-latest-renewable-energy-news","tag-latest-utilities-news","tag-lng","tag-low-carbon-technologies","tag-middle-east-oil-and-gas","tag-ministry-of-energy-industry-and-mineral-resources","tag-natural-gas","tag-net-zero","tag-net-zeo","tag-nuclear","tag-nuclear-plants","tag-nuclear-power","tag-offshore","tag-offshore-wind","tag-oil","tag-oil-gas","tag-oil-and-gas-companies-in-uae","tag-oil-and-gas-news","tag-oil-and-gas-news-uae","tag-oil-field-services","tag-oil-markets","tag-oil-price","tag-oil-well","tag-onshore","tag-opec","tag-petrochemicals","tag-petroleum","tag-petroleum-companies-in-uae","tag-petroleum-website","tag-pipeline","tag-pipeline-news-magazine","tag-price-cap","tag-price-hike","tag-refining","tag-renewable-energy","tag-renewables","tag-russia-gas-news","tag-russian-energy","tag-russian-gas","tag-russian-oil","tag-shale","tag-solar-energy","tag-solar-power","tag-storage","tag-substation","tag-technology","tag-technology-in-oil-and-gas-industry","tag-topside","tag-trade-oil-price","tag-ukraine","tag-un-sustainability-goals","tag-united-states","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-utilities","tag-volatility","tag-wind-mills","tag-wind-power","tag-world-crude-price","tag-wti"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33397"},{"taxonomy":"post_ta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