Russia is pumping nearly 10% less oil than before it invaded Ukraine, satellite imagery suggests

• Russia is pumping less oil than before it invaded Ukraine, satellite imagery suggests.
• The NASA imagery, analysed by OilX, monitors light emitted from gas flaring on Russian oilfields.

Russia is pumping less oil than before it invaded Ukraine, according to satellite imagery that measures gas flaring from Russian oil fields.

Between April 1 and 19, Russian oil production fell to 10.1 million barrels a day on average, less than the 11 million seen in March and the 11.1 million seen in February, according to data from analytics firm OilX, shared with Insider. The decline between February and April represents a 9% drop.

OilX uses imagery from NASA satellites to track the amount of light emitted from oil derricks as they burn excess natural gas in a process known as flaring. Lower light emissions indicate that less oil is being pumped, and vice versa.

The US has banned Russian energy imports over its invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24. The European Union, which relies heavily on Russian oil and gas, hasn't done the same, although several countries, including Germany, the leading economy in the bloc, have pledged to phase out their use of Russian energy.

Russian oil production between April 1 and 19 was the lowest seen since September 2020, OilX said. If Russian oil production continues to fall at the current rate, average production for the month of April will be about 10 million barrels a day, OilX said.

Russian oil exports sank 25% in the week to April 15, with revenue from crude shipments dropping to $181 million from $240 million, according to Bloomberg, which was first to cite the OilX figures.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's top economic adviser Oleg Ustenko said in an interview with The Observer, published Sunday, that Ukraine will prosecute traders of Russian oil and gas.

Last year, Russia supplied about one-third of the EU and UK's natural gas, according to the International Energy Agency. The European Commission has proposed reducing the EU's demand for Russian gas by two-thirds before the end of 2022.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Russia has increasingly being shipping oil exports with "destination unknown" labels, obscuring the origin of the oil for buyers looking to continue doing business with Moscow.