Russia Oil Industry Rules May Cut Exports
Due to bureaucratic obstacles over pipeline access, the Russia oil industry risks a possible drop in crude oil exports, which are a key source of the country's budget revenues. The Energy Ministry may bar oil producers from selling on their access to the Transneft pipelines to other companies following a decree signed on March 31.
The Energy Ministry has so far declined to comment on the decision, which gives top priority for pipeline access to Russian refineries, followed by oil-trading exchanges and domestic suppliers. Traders say that the decree is unclear in defining how companies may trade their pipeline access rights. The resulting deadlock could lead to thousands of tonnes in lost export volumes. Russia is a big overseas oil supplier, delivering abroad over 5 million barrels of oil per day. This is slightly less than one fifth of the total exports from OPEC.