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Putin's reality: "Yes, they [Ukrainians] are currently causing us certain problems with petroleum products. I think the situation will gradually improve." Real reality: Russia's average oil refining rate has decreased to 3.91 million barrels per day this month. This is the lowest level since March 2005 - Bloomberg. That’s...

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The problems in Russia’s oil and gas sector are already becoming systemic. Russia is refining less oil, transporting it at a higher cost, facing problems with export infrastructure, and already losing oil and gas revenues. Let’s take a look at what exactly is happening inside Russia. First, the Russian authorities themselves are no longer treating the shortage as a short-term disruption. A complete ban on diesel exports was introduced in early July, and it is quite likely to be extended through the end of the year. Gasoline exports are banned until January 31, 2027, and jet fuel exports until the end of November. Russia has also started importing additional petroleum products from Asia and Belarus. Second, Russia is physically refining less and less oil. According to Kpler, Russian refineries processed around 3.8 million barrels per day in July - the lowest level in more than two decades. EA Analytics estimates the figure even lower, at approximately 3.6 million barrels per day. For comparison, the normal level for this period in 2020-2025 was 5.3-5.6 million barrels per day. Third, Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries are continuing. A cycle has effectively formed: strike - repairs - partial recovery - another strike. Following the August 21 attack, the Perm Oil Refinery, with an annual capacity of 13.1 million tonnes, was completely shut down. Since August 2025, at least 25 Russian oil refineries have been targeted. Fourth, the diesel shortage is making the economy more expensive - increasing the cost of harvesting, reducing the resilience of Russia’s logistics system, and consequently affecting prices overall. Fifth, even the oil Russia manages to produce is becoming more difficult and expensive to export. In the first half of August, exports from western ports amounted to around 2.3 million barrels per day instead of the planned 2.7 million. Novorossiysk was particularly affected: shipments fell to around 400,000 barrels per day, compared with 800,000-1 million in June-July. Previously, problems at refineries could be partially offset by increasing crude oil exports. But when refineries, ports, terminals and tankers are all being targeted simultaneously, this becomes much harder. Exports have not collapsed, but they have become more expensive and less predictable. The same applies to petroleum products: in July, seaborne exports of fuel oil and vacuum gasoil fell by around 12%, to 2.4 million tonnes. The situation with gas is structurally worse. The Power of Siberia pipeline has already nearly reached its contractual ceiling - around 38.8 billion cubic meters per year. Power of Siberia 2 is primarily constrained by price: China wants gas at a significantly lower price than Russia is willing to sell it for. LNG faces even more problems: the EU has already begun phasing out imports, while redirecting supplies to Asia means longer and more expensive logistics. China is increasing its purchases of Russian gas, but it has not replaced Europe and will not replace it quickly. The most serious problem is the budget. In the first half of the year, Russia’s oil and gas revenues fell by 22.7% year-on-year, and by 16.8% over the first seven months. By January-April alone, the federal budget deficit had reached 5.88 trillion rubles, exceeding the planned deficit for the entire year. On top of this come the costs of refinery repairs, air defense, fuel imports, alternative routes, freight and insurance. Despite all these losses, we can see that Russian oil and gas revenues have not yet collapsed, although adaptation is becoming increasingly expensive. For now, the Kremlin is being helped by the crisis around the Strait of Hormuz, which is keeping oil prices high. At the same time, Russia’s ability to refine and export this oil is deteriorating. So far, high prices are offsetting these losses. If the situation around Hormuz stabilizes and Brent prices fall, the current logistical and fuel problems could become much more serious for Russia.

Anton Gerashchenko

39,422 views • 14 days ago