A Rosneft oil tanker sails in the Baltic Sea in the Leningrad region, Russia, 3 May 2025. Photo: EPA / MAXIM SHIPENKOV
Russian oil companies significantly reduced their production of crude oil in December due to the impact of US sanctions on export sales, Bloomberg reported on Friday.
Last month, the total amount of Russian oil extracted fell by over 100,000 barrels per day, to 9.326 million barrels, a source familiar with the official statistics, which have been classified since 2022, told Bloomberg.
The drop in output is the greatest since mid-2024, when Russia cut production under an agreement with the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Bloomberg continued. Now, however, Russia is at liberty to increase oil production, yet December’s output showed an unexpected fall and is now 250,000 barrels below the daily quota agreed with OPEC and its allies in November.
Russian oil companies are finding it increasingly difficult to sell Russian crude overseas, as although Russian tankers shipped 3.87 million barrels a day of crude in the four weeks to 21 December, Bloomberg said, there were increased delays in offloading cargoes “with a build-up of vessels anchored off the coasts of India and China”, the Kremlin’s two largest customers.
Output may also have been affected by Ukrainian airstrikes on Russian oil company Lukoil’s production facilities in the Caspian Sea in December, Bloomberg noted.
