Russia cuts fuel oil supplies by rail for export by 5% in Apr m/m

Russia reduced fuel oil supplies by rail for export via ports and border crossings by 5% in April from March to 2.277 million metric tons amid refinery maintenances and seasonal use of rivers, according to industry sources and Reuters calculations.

Russia’s primary oil refining capacity idled due to maintenance, technical outages and drone attacks increased in April by nearly 14% from March to 4.527 million tons.

Between April and November, refineries use inland waterways as an alternative to railways to deliver oil products to Black Sea and Baltic Sea ports, as well for ship-to-ship loadings.

The Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga remained the main destination for Russian fuel oil in April, handling some 60% of total supplies.

However, fuel supplies to the terminal by rail fell last month by 5% from March to 1.363 million tons.

Fuel oil deliveries via rail to the Baltic sea port of Vysotsk dropped 33% in April from March to 142,074 tons, while those to St Petersburg rose 28% to 182,755 tons.

Export supplies of fuel oil by rail to the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk fell 13% last month from March to 277,304 tons.

Fuel oil deliveries via rail to the domestic market fell 3.7% in April month-on-month to 665,057 tons, data from sources showed.

From January-April, fuel oil supplies via rail for export fell 6.9% from the same period last year to 9.821 million tons, according to the sources and Reuters calculations.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Reuters. Editing by Mark Potter)