Seaborne flows of Russian crude oil declined by a quarter in the seven days to April 15. Volumes heading to Asia from ports on the Black Sea, Baltic and Arctic coasts plunged to the lowest in two months. A total of 30 tankers loaded about 21.8 million barrels from Russian export terminals, according to vessel-tracking data monitored by Bloomberg and port agent reports. That put average seaborne crude flows at 3.12 million barrels a day, down by 25% against the week ended April 8 . The decline in oil exports means reduced revenue for Moscow as the costs mount of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine and consequent sanctions on the Russian economy. At current rates of crude oil export duty, the week’s shipments will have earned the Kremlin about $181 million; that’s $60 million less than the previous week. To be sure, while the week-on-week drop in export flows […]