Russia boosts oil exports by most since May as oil prices spike past $108

Russia’s seaborne crude shipments just hit their highest pace in weeks, perfectly timed with an oil price spike that most producers would describe as “convenient.” The four-week average for Russian crude exports climbed to 3.54 million barrels per day through September 13, the largest weekly increase since mid-May. The catalyst wasn’t anything Moscow engineered. Drone strikes on Saudi Arabia’s East-West Crude Oil Pipeline on September 10-11 temporarily shut down one of the most important oil transit routes on the planet, sending Brent crude past $100 per barrel and peaking around $108-109. What happened to Saudi oil flows The East-West pipeline typically moves around 4-5 million barrels per day of Saudi crude, serving as the critical backup route when tensions flare around the Strait of Hormuz. The attacks, attributed to Iran-aligned militias, knocked the pipeline offline with repair estimates ranging from a few days to as long as 4-8 weeks. The potential supply disruption represents roughly 4% of global oil demand. Russia’s well-timed export surge In the week ending September 13, Russian crude loadings totaled 27.06 million barrels spread across 38 tankers. Russia’s weekly export ...