FILE PHOTO: A Russian national flag flies behind a sign bearing the logo of Rosneft oil company installed at a fuel station in Saint Petersburg, Russia, October 23, 2025. REUTERS/Anton Vaganov/File Photo
By Bloomberg News
Nov 13, 2026 (Bloomberg) –Russia’s October revenues from crude and petroleum-product exports hit the highest since May as the ongoing Iran war bolstered oil prices, according to the International Energy Agency.
Russian oil producers earned almost $21.2 billion in export revenue last month, up about 65% from a year earlier, the IEA said in a report Friday. Crude accounted for more than 80% of the total, as the nation’s petroleum-product output and exports were pressured by Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries.
The country’s key crude blends, Urals and ESPO, topped $100 a barrel last month due to hostilities in the Middle East, with near daily attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and intense strikes by Houthis on Saudi energy infrastructure, the agency said. That supported demand for Russian barrels, which don’t need to cross Hormuz to reach China and India, their main buyers.
Prices above $100 were a welcome development for Russia’s budget, which gets about a fifth of its revenue from the oil and gas industry and which has been strained by the cost of the invasion of Ukraine and sustaining the nation’s wartime economy. The full-year budget deficit is expected to reach 3.2% of gross domestic product this year, government data published Tuesday show.
The federal budget doesn’t receive oil revenues directly from exports, but rather through taxing producers, while offering generous subsidies to the industry at the same time. Last month, net budget revenues from oil levies totaled around $10 billion, dented by multi-billion-ruble payouts to support domestic fuel deliveries, Bloomberg calculations based on Finance Ministry data show.
Read More: Russia Refinery Payouts Hit Highest Since 2022 in Blow to Budget
Russia’s crude oil exports in October remained flat month-on-month at 5.33 million barrels per day, roughly 4% above last year’s level, according to the IEA report. Petroleum-product exports reached 1.49 million barrels per day, the highest since June, though were about a third below the year-earlier level.
Ukrainian drone attacks in the first half of October impacted Russian refinery runs, before easing later in the month as Kyiv paused strikes for two weeks. The lull coincided with calls for calm from US President Donald Trump as he sought to bring down fuel prices before the midterm elections.
Ukraine has since resumed targeting some of Russia’s key oil refineries, including export-focused plants as Kirishi, and the nation’s largest facility in Omsk. The renewed campaign has already hurt Russian refinery runs, and may lead to higher seaborne crude exports this month, unless Russia’s crude-export terminals are affected.
Read More: Ukraine Drone Strikes Seen Cutting Russia Oil Refining Yet Again
© 2026 Bloomberg L.P.
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