Key facts
- Russia's net oil revenue in August was $3.76 billion, a 22% decrease from the previous year.
- The Urals crude price averaged approximately $59 per barrel in August.
- Total oil and gas revenue for Russia decreased by 16% year-over-year in August.
- Refinery subsidies paid by Russia reached nearly $916 billion since January.
- Ukrainian drone strikes have repeatedly disrupted Russian refineries throughout the year.
Russia's net oil revenue in August declined to 326.2 billion rubles, approximately $3.76 billion, marking a 22% decrease from the previous year and the lowest monthly total since February. This drop is attributed to a lower Urals crude price, which averaged just over $59 per barrel for the month, significantly down from nearly $95 per barrel in the spring.
Total Russian oil and gas revenue also fell 16% year-over-year to 424 billion rubles in August, with oil and gas contributing about one-fifth of the federal budget. August's oil receipts were more than 60% below July's figures, partly due to a large scheduled payment from Russia's profit-based tax on producers.
Compounding the revenue decline, Russia paid refiners over 197 billion rubles in August to ensure domestic fuel supplies, with refinery subsidies reaching nearly 916 billion rubles since January. Repeated Ukrainian drone strikes have disrupted Russian refineries, leading to restrictions on gasoline and diesel exports and increased fuel imports. These refinery outages have also reduced Russia's capacity to process its own crude production, forcing more oil into storage or requiring export adjustments.
Export capacity has faced its own challenges, with Ukrainian attacks disrupting terminals and shipping operations in the Black Sea and Baltic, hindering Russia's ability to redirect crude. Despite Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak's expectation that production will rebound as refineries restart, Rystad Energy forecasts a deeper impact, cutting its 2026 Russian crude production forecast to 8.95 million barrels per day.