Russian seaborne crude exports climbed to a 2026 high in early June as temporary U.S. sanctions relief reduced shipping frictions, while the return of Iranian supply increased competition for Asian buyers.
Reuters reported that shipments of Urals, KEBCO and Siberian Light from Primorsk, Ust-Luga and Novorossiysk averaged about 2.35 million to 2.4 million barrels per day in May 1-15, up from roughly 2.2 million bpd in April. Western port exports and transit were about 150,000 bpd higher than the previous month and close to Transneft pipeline and port capacity. S&P Global Commodity Insights said Russia’s seaborne crude exports averaged 4.1 million bpd in May and about 4.5 million bpd in the first two weeks of June.
Higher export availability followed lower domestic refinery processing after outages, while U.S. waivers temporarily allowed covered Russian cargoes and related shipping services. G7-linked tankers carried 33.2% of Russian seaborne crude volumes in May and 29.7% in the first two weeks of June.
At the same time, U.S. sanctions relief for Iranian-origin crude, products and petrochemicals through Aug. 21 enabled additional cargo movements. Bloomberg shipping data showed 11 tankers carrying a combined 20 million barrels left Iran’s Chabahar port in the week after the interim U.S.-Iran agreement, while Vortexa estimated Iranian crude held at sea rose by 6 million barrels in 48 hours to about 126 million barrels, with around half already in Asian waters. Reuters said many Asian refiners entered the waiver period with elevated inventories, while banking, payment and policy uncertainty kept buying cautious, leaving Chinese independent refiners as the most flexible buyers. The additional Iranian supply added pressure to crude prices, widened discounts on Russian grades and weighed on high-sulphur fuel oil markets.