Russian Crude Exports Touch Two-Month Low as Pacific Flows Slump

Russia’s crude exports slid to the lowest since mid-April as maintenance work interrupted loadings at a key Pacific port while flows from the Baltic also declined.

Seaborne crude shipments averaged 3.19 million barrels a day in the four weeks to June 22, a drop of 4% from the period to June 15. The more volatile weekly figure fell by 220,000 barrels a day for a second straight decline.

The lower cargoes may prove to be temporary. Loadings at Kozmino had returned to normal by the end of the week after a three-day gap in activity at the Pacific port. But a slowdown in shipments from the Baltic port of Primorsk is less easy to explain, ...