In December 2025, Russian crude oil production fell by the most in the last 18 months due to Western sanctions and Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil infrastructure.
Points of attention
- Russian crude oil production witnessed a major decline in December 2025, primarily attributed to Western sanctions and Ukrainian attacks on oil infrastructure.
- The record low production levels in Russia have grave implications for the country's oil market and refineries, posing significant challenges.
Crude oil production in Russia has fallen to a record low
Russia produced an average of 9.326 million barrels of crude oil per day in December 2025. This figure, which does not include condensate production, is more than 100,000 barrels per day less than in November and almost 250,000 barrels per day less than Russia is allowed to produce under the OPEC+ agreement.
The December collapse in production was also the largest since June 2024, the period when Russia was already supposed to cut production under the OPEC+ agreement.
This drop comes at a time when Ukraine is carrying out large-scale drone attacks on Russian oil infrastructure, which directly limits its production and affects the refineries that consume that oil.
At the same time, Russian oil cargoes are piling up at sea amid the reluctance of some buyers to buy them following large-scale US sanctions targeting the country's two largest producers, Rosneft and Lukoil.
