Russia’s oil and fuel export revenues rebound in March, IEA says

MOSCOW: Russia’s revenues from crude oil and refined products rose in March, rebounding from February when they fell to their lowest level since the start of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, as prices surged due to the Iran war, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday.

Russia’s commodity revenues are a vital part of the state budget and are needed to support rising military spending.

The Paris-based IEA said Russia’s crude oil exports rose by 270,000 barrels per day last month from February to 4.6 million bpd, mostly driven by higher seaborne shipments as the Druzhba pipeline remained offline.

Flows via the Druzhba pipeline to Hungary and Slovakia across Ukrainian territory have remained shut following the attacks on the pipeline infrastructure at the end of January.

The IEA also said Russia’s oil and oil product export revenues nearly doubled, to $19 billion in March from $9.75 billion in February as global oil prices surged.

It said that Russia’s crude production increased last month to 8.96 million bpd from 8.67 million bpd in February.

The agency also said that Russia may struggle to increase oil production above the levels seen in early first quarter in the near term given damage to port and energy infrastructure.

Russian Baltic and Black Sea ports and refineries have been repeatedly damaged by Ukrainian drone strikes.