Sanctions and drone strikes are hitting Russia’s oil industry: production in December fell to its lowest level in a year and a half
9 January 19:50
In December 2025, crude oil production in Russia fell sharply—the largest drop in the past 18 months. According to Bloomberg, average production stood at 9.326 million barrels per day, which is more than 100,000 barrels less than in November and nearly 250,000 barrels below the quota allowed under the OPEC agreement, reports "Komersant Ukrainian".
The December drop was the largest since June 2024 —a period when Russia was already forced to limit production under its agreements with OPEC. Now the reduction has occurred outside of the plan, indicating structural problems in the industry.
What caused the collapse
Analysts attribute the decline to two key factors:
- Western sanctions, particularly the recent sweeping U.S. restrictions against the two largest producers— Rosneft and Lukoil.
- Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil and gas infrastructure, which directly limit production and disrupt the operation of oil refineries.
Amid the sanctions, Russian oil is piling up at sea: some buyers are avoiding purchases due to the risk of secondary sanctions. This exacerbates the problem—even extracted oil does not always find a market.
Until December 2025, production in Russia had been gradually increasing, making the current decline particularly telling. It was also previously reported that the value of Russian oil exports by sea had fallen to its lowest level since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
