Russia’s sea-borne diesel and gasoil exports rose by 11% to about 1.9 million tonnes in the first 17 days of July from the same period in June, as production grew after seasonal refinery maintenance, data from traders and Refinitiv Eikon showed.

Russia’s offline primary oil refining capacity is expected to fall significantly this month to 2.326 million tonnes from 3.966 million tonnes in June, according to the data and Reuters calculations.

In July so far, Turkey and Brazil remain the top destinations for diesel exports from Russian ports, taking about half of total supplies, or 631,000 tonnes and 300,000 tonnes, respectively, Refinitiv shipping data showed.

Senegal and Morocco are the leading Russian diesel importersto Africa this month with 75,000 tonnes and 66,000 tonnes, respectively, while supplies to Togo and Ghana declined to only 37,000 tonnes and 30,000 tonnes.

In July to date, diesel and gasoil loadings from Russian ports to United Arab Emirates (UAE) trading hub Fujairah totalled about 150,000 tonnes – in line with the same period of June, according to Refinitiv data and Reuters calculations.

No Russian diesel cargoes were seen heading to Saudi Arabia this month, with only one goingto the kingdom in June, shipping data showed.

About 250,000 tonnes of Russian diesel are destined so far in July for ship-to-ship (STS) loadings near the Greek port of Kalamata and for STS near Malta. The final destinations for those volumes are as yet unknown, but usually those cargoes end up in Turkey and Middle East countries.

Another 250,000 tonnes of diesel loaded in Russian ports since the start of July do not yet have a confirmed destination.

All the shipping data above are based on the date of cargo departure.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Conor Humphries)