Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on October 10, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Russia's oil exports from western ports are expected to remain near record highs in October, supported by increased refinery activity and a higher OPEC+ quota.
Moscow (Reuters) -Oil exports and transit from Russia’s western ports in October are expected to stay close to September’s record levels due to increased refinery activity, according to industry sources and Reuters calculations.
Shipments of Urals, Siberian Light, and KEBCO grades from the ports of Primorsk, Ust-Luga and Novorossiysk may fall by around 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) from last month to about 2.3 million bpd, based on average estimates and data provided by industry sources.
Russia’s growing OPEC+ quota and ongoing refinery maintenances support strong exports despite an expected increase in domestic processing. Russia's October OPEC+ quota rose by 93,000 bpd from September to 9.457 million bpd.
Record refinery outages in August and September pushed last month's exports to a record 2.5 million bpd, while Russia's idle refining capacity in October is expected to ease below August levels, providing for higher domestic throughput, sources said.
However, drone attacks on refineries — including a fire at Kirishinefteorgsintez on October 4 — may prompt upward revisions to export plans, while attacks on pipeline infrastructure could limit export capacity.
Russia has been gradually raising its oil production and was close last month to meeting the output quota agreed by the OPEC+ group of leading oil producers, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Wednesday, the Interfax news agency reported.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Susan Fenton)
OPEC+ is a coalition of oil-producing countries that includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other major oil-producing nations. It aims to regulate oil production and stabilize prices in the global market.
A barrel per day (bpd) is a unit of measurement used to quantify the production or consumption of oil. It indicates how many barrels of oil are produced or consumed in one day.
Refinery maintenance refers to the scheduled upkeep and repairs of oil refineries to ensure they operate efficiently and safely. This process can impact oil production levels and market supply.
Domestic processing in the oil industry refers to the refining and conversion of crude oil into usable products, such as gasoline and diesel, within the producing country rather than exporting the crude oil.
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