Russian Oil Trade Faces Uncertainty as Baltic Shipments Decline

Two weeks after the Biden administration unveiled sanctions on Russian oil exporters and tankers, Russian oil exports from the country’s second-largest export facility on the Baltic Sea have unexpectedly plunged in the past several weeks, a slump that adds to wider questions about the nation’s petroleum flows as Western sanctions ramp up. According to Bloomberg, shipments from the Baltic port of Ust-Luga tumbled in the final two weeks of December, a period in which six out 14 scheduled cargoes failed to load. Russia then planned, and…