Russia’s War Chest May Be Shrinking Over Oil Woes

Russia’s seaborne crude shipments fell to the lowest in two months with declining volumes compounding lower prices to potentially deplete the Kremlin’s war funding. The country shipped 3.45 million barrels a day in the four weeks to Nov. 9, according to vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg, down by about 130,000 from the same timespan to Nov. 2.

Last month, the US sanctioned Russia’s two largest oil producers, prompting some buyers in Asia to say they’d scale back purchases. But it’s difficult to know what buying curtailments are really happening as tankers wait until the last moment to reveal where they’re headed.