Russian Oil Production Collapses to 20-Year Low

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Newsweek

Published Dec 30, 2024 at 11:21 AM EST | Updated Dec 30, 2024 at 11:51 AM EST


Russia's average daily production of crude oil in 2024 slumped to its lowest level in nearly two decades, according to the latest figures, which reportedly show the impact of Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian energy infrastructure. Data from oil trade analytics platform Seala showed that crude oil production this year in Russia averaged 1,254 metric tons per day—the lowest since 2005.

Military news site Militarnyi was among the Ukrainian media outlets that cited the figures, along with data that production at oil refineries in Russia had fallen to their lowest levels since 2012 because of unscheduled repairs following the drone attacks. Newsweek has contacted Russia's Finance Ministry for comment by email.

Why It Matters

Oil is a key revenue generator for Russia, which is the world's third largest producer of the resource, accounting for over 12 percent of global crude oil production. That is why oil was targeted by Western sanctions that aimed to punish Russia and President Vladimir Putin for his 2022 invasion of Ukraine and choke off funds for his war machine.

These include a G7-imposed $60 price cap on a barrel of seaborne oil, which Russia has managed to evade through a so-called shadow fleet of vessels whose links to Moscow are hidden, often through shell companies. Meanwhile, Ukraine has succeeded in hitting oil production sites in Russia with drone strikes deep inside the country but often not claiming responsibility.

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/russia-oil-20-low-production-2007388

[louis-t]

1. So what this means is the orange asshole won't actually

be able to lower the price of gas by removing sanctions against his buddy? We are still one of the highest, if not THE highest oil producing nation in the world and "drill baby drill" is still a thing with these assholes? What they forget is, years ago the small refineries were bought out by the big companies and shuttered, to get more control over prices. We can only refine so much.

[Woodycall]

2. "THE highest" is correct...

The rest of your post is profoundly correct.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. The U.S. IS now the biggest oil producer in the world (thanks to fracking)

yet the media allows the continual "drill baby drill" bloviating to go unchallenged and without noting that we are currently pumping out a record near-14 million bbls/day.

And that goes for LNG as well.

[TheRickles]

4. Going from 1424 tons per day to 1254/day over 20 years is hardly "collapsing".

But I guess anything goes when it comes to generating clicks.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. Saudi and Russia have been booted out of "largest" (oil + LNG) by the U.S.

US oil output notches fresh record in August

By Ben Lefebvre
08/07/2024 04:55 PM EDT

(snip)

Preliminary data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed oil companies pumped an average of 13.4 million barrels a day from U.S. oil fields during the week ended Aug. 2, surpassing the previous record of 13.3 million the industry has hit several times this year. U.S. oil production began a long climb upward starting in 2008, setting an annual record peak in 2023 that is likely to be broken this year.

(snip)

On an annual basis - the article has this -

Citing Reuters figures, The Moscow Times was among the news outlets reporting projections that Russia would process 267 million metric tons of oil this year—a drop of 8 million metric tons from 2023, the lowest level of production of the fuel since 2012.

Russia is losing revenue (even with them doing their "shadow shipping" of oil around the sanctions).

[TheRickles]

6. I don't doubt these numbers and rankings. I objected to the clickbait title.

Going from 1424 to 1254 tons daily production over a 20 year span is less than a 1% drop each year. If that's "collapsing"....

[BumRushDaShow]

7. I suppose

they could have used "dropped to" but there's nothing indicating that it took 20 years to drop - only that it is down to its lowest in over 20 years (2 different measures). I.e., the war started just over 2 years ago and there is this drop apparently over that span.

One thing I have noted with Newsweek is that they are anti-Russia and have spent quite a bit of their website's story real estate on Ukraine reporting.