In August, Russian refineries are still not significantly increasing run rates despite authorities’ recommendation on the back of OPEC+ ease in oil output cuts starting this month.
The energy ministry has encouraged oil producers to add supply to the domestic refineries as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its oil producer allies (OPEC+) have alleviated the output cut pact. However, export destinations were the ones showing more volumes instead.
On the St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange (SPIMEX), planned gasoline sales this month are only upgraded slightly from July’s level, signaling that the throughput increase in refineries is not going to be notable.
The volume rise was partly due to the coming-back online of Gazprom’s Astrakhan gas processing plant after extended maintenance.
In July, gasoline volumes traded on SPIMEX was at 688,250 mt from 503,510 in the previous month. The increase was supported by demand recovery, the gradual return of refinery operations, and exchange sales at more normal levels. However, the climb could not offset the surging domestic prices.
Last month, Russian refineries processed 22.274 million mt of crude, up by 8.4% from June but dropped by 11.5% on a yearly basis. The yearly fall was caused by the sump in refinery run rates after demand was effectively damaged in April and May, combined with seasonal maintenance and unprofitable refinery economics.
Crude availability for domestic refineries last month was limited by the output cut pact but was still going up as most maintenances were coming to an end in June.
