Russia's Crude Shipments Slip to Lowest in a Month

The Second Straight Decline Came Despite Another Small Uptick in Weekly Shipments

- Bloomberg

Russia's oil exports slid for a second week, with lower flows of its key Pacific grade dragging down overall exports.

Crude flows from all Russian ports in the four weeks to April 6 fell to 3.23 million barrels a day, their lowest in a month and about 220,000 barrels a day below their recent peak. The second straight decline came despite another small uptick in weekly shipments.

The drop came as the country's output target under a producer group deal begins to rise for the first time in 2 1/2 years. A 26,000 barrel a day increase in the country's OPEC+ output target this month, confirmed by the producer group in March, will be entirely offset by a similar increase in the amount of "compensation cuts" Moscow has offered to make in April to offset past over-production.