Iran crisis drives energy prices up as Russia earns €6bn from exports
Figures from thinktank show Russia received extra €672m in revenues from oil, gas and coal during March so far
Russia has received about €6bn (£5bn) from fossil fuel exports in the two weeks since the US-Israel war with Iran began, according to a report by The Guardian citing energy market data.
The data indicates that Russia earned an additional €672m from sales of oil, gas and coal during March as average daily prices for these commodities rose by around 14% compared with February, The Guardian reported.
Most of the increase -- roughly €625m -- came from oil trading, based on figures compiled by the thinktank Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), the report said.
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The figures were released after Donald Trump signalled on Monday (9 March) that the US might relax sanctions on Russian oil as global energy prices surged following the outbreak of the conflict on 28 February, when US and Israeli airstrikes reportedly killed Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei, The Guardian noted.
The CREA publication coincided with an International Energy Agency (IEA) warning that the war had cut the Gulf's oil and gas production by at least 10m barrels of oil a day and had created "the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market", according to the report.
Russia's commodity revenues are seen as a vital part of its state budget to fund military spending, including in Ukraine, The Guardian added.
Alexander Kirk, a sanctions campaigner with the NGO Urgewald, said market volatility benefits authoritarian energy exporters.
"In less than two weeks, Russia has earned an estimated €6bn from fossil fuel exports, money that ultimately feeds the Kremlin's war machine," he said.
He also warned that easing sanctions would likely boost Russia's revenues rather than stabilise markets, arguing that current restrictions have forced Russian crude to sell at a significant discount in global markets.
Separate CREA data released before the start of the Iran war indicated that Russia's oil and gas export earnings had declined over the previous year despite an increase in export volumes, The Guardian reported.
The IEA also said that Russia's revenue from crude oil and refined products had fallen in the month preceding the Iran conflict, marking the lowest level since the Ukraine war began in 2022.
According to the report, the drop in February was partly linked to reduced exports to India after Washington discouraged cooperation with Moscow, as well as the impact of January attacks on a pipeline transporting oil to Hungary and Slovakia through Ukraine.
