The announcement of US sanctions and the prospect of reduced supplies helped oil prices start confidently in 2025. On January 15, prices for the benchmark global oil brand Brent rose above $82 per barrel, the highest level since August 2024. According to calculations by the International Energy Agency (IEA), Russia's revenues from oil export shipments in January increased by $0.6 billion compared to December, reaching $9.8 billion, and petroleum product shipments increased by $0.4 billion to $5.9 billion.
According to the IEA, the export of crude oil and petroleum products from Russia last month generally matched the supply volumes in December, amounting to about 7.4 million barrels per day. At the same time, crude oil supplies increased by 100 thousand barrels per day — to 4.6 million barrels per day, while the export of petroleum products decreased by the same amount — to 2.8 million barrels per day.
The US introduced the most extensive package of sanctions against Russian oil companies and the Russian shadow fleet at the beginning of January. However, as noted by Reuters, some of the sanctions come into effect later in February or March.
Oil exports from Russia may be supported if it finds workarounds for the latest US sanctions package, the IEA believes, predicting that the growth of global oil supply will outpace demand this year.
Photo: TASS