Oil production levels in Russia have decreased to the 2020 pandemic figures.

Ukrainian drones affect oil production in Russia

Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia’s export infrastructure have led to a decrease in the country’s oil production in April to 8.83 million barrels per day. This is 130 thousand less than in March and 460 thousand less than in April 2025.

According to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), Russia has not produced this little since May-July 2020 when production decreased due to agreements with OPEC+ amid declining global demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The current reduction in production volumes is explained by damage to pipelines, reservoirs, and other facilities as a result of Ukrainian drone attacks. This causes transportation difficulties, making Russia’s pipeline system overloaded, and storage facilities fill up faster than usual. Transneft, which pumps 80% of oil in the country, stated it is unable to accept new volumes of oil for shipment through the port of Ust-Luga.

The strikes also led to a reduction in oil product exports, which in April fell to 2.2 million barrels per day, the lowest on record according to the IEA. Even an increase in crude oil exports due to the Middle East conflict did not compensate for these losses for the Russian budget, as it is mainly filled through mineral extraction tax.

Despite the current reduction, the Russian government hopes that this year the total volume of crude oil and condensate production will remain at around 511 million tonnes, equivalent to 10.26 million barrels per day.

Since the beginning of the year, Ukrainian strikes have caused damage to the Russian oil industry amounting to approximately 7 billion dollars. According to the data, in April the Ukrainian armed forces damaged 14 strategic facilities.