In December of last year, oil production in the Russian Federation decreased for the first time in a year and a half, reaching an average level of 9.33 million barrels per day. This is over 100,000 barrels less than the previous month and nearly 250,000 barrels below the quota set by the OPEC+ agreement, which was 9.57 million barrels per day for December.
This is reported by Business • Media
Reasons for the Reduction in Oil Production in Russia
Experts note that this decline in production is linked to a number of factors. Significant impacts were made by large-scale attacks from Ukrainian drones on Russia’s oil infrastructure and enterprises. One of the latest was the attack on January 10 on an oil depot in the Volgograd region, which caused a fire. Additionally, Ukraine struck Russian oil fields in the Caspian Sea for the first time since the beginning of the full-scale war, as well as tankers transporting Russian oil.
“Experts attribute the decline in production both to large-scale attacks by Ukrainian drones on Russian oil infrastructure and plants, as well as to the reluctance of some traditional global importers to purchase Russian oil following U.S. sanctions.”
Reduction in Energy Trade with China
Another important factor was the decrease in energy resource exports to China. Over the 11 months of last year, China reduced its purchases of Russian oil by 7.6%, to 91.5 million tons, while the value of exports fell by 20%. Imports of Russian oil products also decreased: light distillates fell by 3%, and heavy ones by 33%. In monetary terms, these figures dropped by 33% and 40%, respectively.
A decline was also recorded in coal exports: physical volumes of supplies to China fell by 11% (to 72.4 million tons), and the value dropped by 29%, to 6.9 billion dollars. At the same time, exports of liquefied gas to China increased by 12% in tonnage but decreased by 1.8% in monetary terms. For the first time since the beginning of the full-scale war, supplies of Chinese goods to Russia also decreased: they fell by 11.8% and amounted to 91.7 billion dollars from January to November.