Russian crude oil export in January declined by 13.4% as compared to the previous month, and by 2.3% when comparing with January 2015, the Russian economic news agency PRIME reported with reference to the Russian Federal Statistics Service Rosstat.
The decline in crude oil exports in January is attributed to a relatively mild winter in Europe and continuing modest economic growth in the region.
It is noted that even more drastic fluctuations in export indicators were observed in the past, they exceeded 10% in annual terms, according to Director of the Ernst & Young Oil & Gas Center in Moscow Dmitry Dzyuba.
”Analyzing the January figures, we should take into account record high export levels in December, which exceeded 22 million tonnes,” he said.
In the long-term run, oil export volumes will be also determined by anticipated production cuts. The decline is associated with the fact that in the period of low prices of oil, investment in new oil and gas projects is on hold, and many of the old oil fields are about to deplete.
It is noted that the decline in export earnings, in turn, affects receipts of the Russian federal budget. According to the Russian Finance Ministry, RUB 746 billion ($ 11 billion) in export revenue was transferred to the budget in February 2016, which was 32% down from January 2016 and 21% down from February 2015.
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