In early April, the Russian energy ministry revealed that the country's oil production fell by about 700,000 barrels a day in March, according to media reports citing people familiar with the matter.。Russia had previously promised a reduction of 500,000 barrels per day between March and December, and according to this set of claims, Russia actually had to cut production by an additional 200,000 barrels per day in March.。

In fact, Russia classifies its oil-related data as sensitive, making it difficult to assess the country's actual production cuts, and the market can only speculate on its country's oil production through some of the rhetoric of Russian officials.。In the case of this production cut, it began with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Novak saying that Russia would cut its crude oil production based on February's production.。So, the media through the channel to find the Russian crude oil industry industry data, calculated that in February Russia's production of 10.1 million barrels per day, and thus concluded that Russia's March crude oil production will fall by about 700,000 barrels per day.。

Most of the time, market participants and traders in dire need of commodity repricing will be through various channels to make the news on the price side as soon as possible, and the "hands and eyes" of the media to measure the data are also able to effectively guide this transmission path, but the situation seems to be quietly changing。

According to cruise tracking data compiled by the statistics agency, the country's crude oil shipments surged 1 million barrels per day to a new high of 4.13 million barrels per day in the seven days to March 31, completely out of line with Russian energy ministry commitments, and even the less volatile nearly four-week average jumped to its highest point since June of the previous year.。The news also showed that these increased crude oil production came from ports in the west of the country, which analysts had expected "will feel great pressure to cut production."。

And, with the Group of Seven (G7) still set to maintain a $60-a-barrel price cap on Russian seaborne oil, data show that Russia still relies on Western insurers to underwrite more than half of its fleet of tankers that export its oil, suggesting that a large portion of its crude exports are sold below the price cap, and some analysts even question their prices below the global crude benchmark.。Russia's "false shot" is really beyond market expectations。

However, Russia's "SAO operation" is more than that.。

According to oil executives and industry analysts, Saudi and UAE state-owned enterprises have taken to the bottom since Western sanctions imposed over the Russia-Ukraine conflict severed Russia's ties with many of its established trading partners。On the one hand, these oil-rich Persian Gulf buyers enjoy production cuts in the export market, driving up oil prices;。

Russia is naturally not rejecting this, originally because of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict was sanctioned, Russian energy products transportation is subject to many restrictions, it is not expected that the oil-rich Persian Gulf countries will end up "sweeping goods."。

According to market data provider Argus Media, Fujairah is the UAE's main oil storage center and currently more than 1 in 10 barrels of crude oil it stores comes from Russia, second only to Saudi Arabia.。For its part, Kpler, an energy analysis company, notes that Russia exports 100,000 barrels of oil a day to Saudi Arabia, which equates to more than 36 million barrels a year, a figure that was almost zero before the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.。

The move naturally caused discontent in the U.S. When Deputy Treasury Secretary Nelson visited the Middle East in February this year, he tried to persuade Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Turkey to enforce Western sanctions against Russia.。But there is no sign yet that Gulf states are cutting off demand for Russian oil, analysts say。

In addition, Russia seems to be in order to avoid the $60 price ceiling, is "another way."。

According to foreign media reports, the U.S. Treasury Department issued a warning to U.S. companies this week that Russia may export crude oil through the East Siberian Pacific (ESPO) pipeline and eastern Russian ports to circumvent the price cap on crude oil exports set by the G7.。

The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Management (OFAC) said the office had noted that Russia sold crude oil in excess of price caps at ESPO and other Pacific ports, and that some U.S. companies had intentionally or unintentionally provided services to them "without their knowledge."。OFAC also said the U.S. companies may not have known they were underwriting Russian crude oil suspected of exceeding the price because non-U.S. personnel involved in the export may have "provided incomplete or false documentation or used other deceptive practices."。

OFAC further claims that Russian cruise ships that evade price caps may have taken control of automatic identification systems to cover up their exchanges with each other.。In addition, these cruise ships hide the fact that the cruise ship is from Russia through integral hull handling。As of press time, Russia has not responded to OFAC remarks。

Dramatically, on the cusp of this storm, last night, news of another Russian production cut。

Russia's oil production is expected to remain stable until 2025, while Moscow plans to reserve oil to make its supply more resilient, said Deputy Energy Minister Sorokin.。In addition, Russia decided to cut crude oil production by 500,000 barrels per day by the end of the year to support oil prices.。

Sure enough, perhaps because Russia had "reneged," after the news of the production cut was released, oil prices did not react much, or even short-term lower, did not boost the oil market。

As of press time, WTI crude oil maintained a narrow range of volatility during the day, down slightly 0.06%, trading at 80.8940 USD。