Russian oil product shipments by sea hit one-year high in April as overall crude exports rise

Shipments of oil products of Russian origin reached their highest level in 12 months in April, according to The Insider’s review of the monthly report The Rise of the Shadow Fleet compiled by the analytics provider MarineTraffic. Seaborne oil shipments also rose to their highest level since the start of the year.

According to the analysts, total oil product shipments reached 4.4 million barrels in April. Of that amount, roughly 2.8 million barrels were Russian, the highest figure in the past year.

The figure is still relatively small compared with Russia’s overall energy exports because it includes only products derived from oil refining, such as diesel, fuel oil, and naphtha, mostly intended for India.

Meanwhile, Russia’s oil exports carried by the “shadow fleet” reached approximately 67 million barrels in April — the highest level in three months. The previous peak was observed in January, at 72.7 million barrels, followed by a sharp drop and then a gradual increase to 50.7 million barrels in February and 64.1 million in March.

Oil shipment volumes by sea from May 2025 to April 2026, in millions of barrels