Russia’s Surging Oil Exports Stuck at Sea as Curbs Slow Delivery

Moscow is struggling to deliver crude cargoes in the face of US sanctions, with volumes at sea increasing by a fifth in three months.

While Russia has maintained shipments comfortably above 3 million barrels a day, offloading cargoes has proved more difficult. The average voyage time, from loading to discharge, for the flagship ESPO crude grade from Kozmino on the Pacific coast to Chinese ports rose to more than 12 days for ships loading in November. That was up from an average of just over eight days for tankers making the trip in August.

The delays have led to a sharp increase in the amount of ...