Russia's oil income keeps dropping for second month — Key reason revealed
Illustrative photo: sanctions have hit the Russian regime's revenues (Getty Images)
Russia’s oil export revenues fell again in October 2025 due to Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries and Western sanctions. At the same time, Moscow is adapting, creating new companies and seeking ways to bypass restrictions, Reuters reports.
According to data from the International Energy Agency (IEA), referenced by the outlet, Russia’s revenues in October dropped to $13.1 billion — $2.3 billion less than in October 2024.
Meanwhile, exports of Russian crude oil and petroleum products fell by 150,000 barrels per day in October, totaling 7.4 million barrels per day. In contrast, export volumes had been rising in September.
Russia is adapting
To adjust to the new Western sanctions, Russia has activated three companies — MorExport, RusExport, and NNK — which have been operating in the oil market since May this year. Together, they exported around one million barrels.
"With the country demonstrating its ability to rapidly form new oil shipping companies and move more volumes via its sanctioned fleet, the path forward for Russian crude and product exports will be determined by enforcement and sourcing decisions from the main buyers," the statement said.
Ukraine targets Russia's oil refining industry
Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries have had a major impact, causing oil and petroleum exports from Russia to drop by 110,000 barrels per day. Russia now exports 2.3 million barrels of oil per day — the lowest level since 2017.
At the same time, open data shows that Russia maintained oil production in October at 9.28 million barrels per day — about 20,000 below the target set by the OPEC+ group. The total capacity of Russia’s oil industry is estimated at 9.4 million barrels per day.
"While Russian crude exports have largely held up ahead of the 21 November deadline, recent data show that some of that oil has begun to pile up on water as buyers shun cargoes amid compliance issues and other uncertainties," the IEA said.
According to Ukrainian intelligence, Russia is expected to lose at least $37 billion in budget oil and gas revenues by the end of the year, not counting the tens of billions lost by Russian oil companies and the energy sector as a whole.
Global media also report that a record amount of oil — nearly 1 billion barrels — is currently being stored in tankers around the world. A significant share of it comes from sanctioned countries, including Russia, which is struggling to sell its oil due to sanctions.
