BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 16. Russia's revenues from oil exports in August 2023 amounted to $17.1 billion.
According to the data obtained by Trend from the International Energy Agency (IEA), in August, Russian earnings from oil exports experienced a substantial boost of $1.8 billion, reaching their highest point since October 2022.
Despite a month-on-month decrease in total export quantities by 150,000 b/d, the weighted average price of Russian crude surged by $9.30/b, marking a remarkable increase of 14.4 percent, the agency noted.
The primary contributor to this revenue growth was the export of crude oil, which saw a substantial gain of $1.4 billion on a monthly basis, while petroleum products increased by a more modest $0.4 billion, with a slight year-on-year uptick of $0.1 billion. Despite these positive developments, the estimated export revenues still lagged behind their levels from the previous year by $1.6 billion.
As the IEA data reveals, Russia's oil exports experienced a month-on-month decline of 150,000 b/d in total. This was driven by a 120,000 b/d increase in crude oil exports, which was more than offset by a substantial 270,000 b/d decrease in product exports.
In August, the overall shipments remained 900,000 b/d below their pre-war levels and exhibited a year-on-year drop of 570,000 b/d. Crude oil volumes saw a slight uptick, with reductions in seaborne trade to China offset by increased exports to India, the agency added.
The agency noted that China and India continue to be the primary purchasers of Russian crude, although their combined share decreased to 75 percent in August, compared to an average of 81 percent from January through May 2023, as other buyers entered the market. Interestingly, the Russian crude prices exceeding the price cap in August did not seem to significantly affect destination choices.