Bloomberg: Russia is running out of oil to sell, which it is forced to export due to strikes on refineries

Russia is finding it increasingly difficult to deliver all the oil it needs to export amid increasing Ukrainian drone attacks on its refineries. The amount of Russian oil at sea has risen to about 135 million barrels, near its highest level since the beginning of the year.

Bloomberg writes about this.

The agency said the average volume of seaborne shipments of Russian crude oil in the four weeks to July 12 was almost unchanged at 4.21 million barrels per day, just 10 000 barrels below the highest level since Russiaʼs invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

However, the sharp increase in crude oil exports does not correspond to its actual supply to buyers. As a result, the amount of Russian oil at sea has again approached the levels of the beginning of the year.

Tanker shipments are accumulating and an increasing number of these tankers are simply standing still, not moving to their destinations. Five tankers with Urals oil are standing off the coast of Egypt in the Mediterranean Sea. Another five have stopped in the Riau Islands area near Singapore. This is one of the centers of activity of the shadow fleet that transports sanctioned oil.

Bloomberg believes that the Ukrainian attacks are forcing Russia to increasingly export oil that it can no longer process domestically, increasing foreign supplies even as production falls.

Meanwhile, Sokol and Sakhalin Blend shipments from the Russian Far East can wait weeks to be transshipped from tanker shuttles to large ocean-going vessels. Some ESPO shipments are also sitting idle at Russiaʼs main Pacific oil port, Kozmino.

In addition, according to Bloomberg, in the four weeks to July 12, the value of Russian oil exports fell to $1.68 billion per week, about $200 million less than the previous week.

• In recent months, Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russian oil facilities. Since the beginning of 2026, Ukraine has increased attacks on Russian refineries 11 times. This has already led to a large-scale fuel crisis in Russia.

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