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Sources say that Russia will cut oil exports to western ports in September by 6% compared to August

Two industry sources say that Russia will cut crude oil exports to its western ports, Primorsk Ust-Luga, and Novorossiisk, to 1.9 million barrels per day in September, down from 2.0 million barrels per day in August, as refinery runs increase in the country.

Calculations showed that daily shipments of Urals, KEBCO, and Siberian Light grades will fall by approximately 6% from month to month.

As a result of the completion of maintenance work at several Russian refineries, expected in late August or early September, domestic processing is expected to increase and crude exports to decrease.

Sources said that delays in the completion of scheduled maintenance, as well as external factors like drone attacks on energy infrastructure and oil plants could cause Russia to adjust its crude lifting plans in September.

After drone attacks, Russia increased its August export program sharply after additional crude volumes were available for export.

The provisional plan for crude exports and transit through Russia's western port ports was exceeded by 200,000 barrels per day in August.

Calculations based on data from the industry suggest that Russia's idle refining capacity could fall to around 5 million metric tonnes in September, down from a record-breaking 6.4 million tons recorded in August. (Reporting and Editing by Jan Harvey).

(source: Reuters)