Russia’s Sliding Oil Flows and Prices Strain Putin’s War Chest

Russia’s seaborne crude shipments fell for a third week, sliding to a two-month low, with declining volumes compounding lower prices to hit the Kremlin’s war funds.

The country shipped 3.45 million barrels a day in the four weeks to Nov. 9, according to vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg, down by about 130,000 from the same timespan to Nov. 2.

Last month, the US sanctioned Russia’s two largest oil producers, prompting some buyers in Asia to say they’d scale back purchases. It’s difficult to know what buying curtailments are really happening as tankers are leaving it until as late as possible to reveal where ...