MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia plans to cut crude oil exports from its western ports of Primorsk, Ust-Luga and Novorossiisk to around 1.9 million barrels a day in September from about 2.0 million bpd in August as domestic refinery runs rise, two industry sources said.
Shipments of Urals, KEBCO and Siberian Light grades are expected to fall by roughly 6% month-on-month in daily terms, Reuters calculations showed.
The completion of maintenance at several Russian refineries in late August and early September is expected to boost domestic processing, leading to lower crude export volumes.
However, the sources said delays in completing scheduled maintenance and external factors such as drone attacks on oil plants and energy infrastructure could lead to adjustments in Russia’s crude lifting plans for September.
Russia sharply raised its August export programme after drone attacks disabled several refineries, freeing up additional crude volumes for export.
Crude exports and transit from Russia’s western ports in August were 200,000 bpd above the provisional plan.
Reuters calculations based on industry data suggest that Russia’s idle oil refining capacity may fall to around 5.5 million metric tons in September from a record 6.4 million tons in August.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Jan Harvey)
