Near-record volumes of Russian oil are currently at sea owing to major upheaval in supply lines prompted by the invasion of Ukraine, according to trade flow data.

Some 140m Russian barrels are in transit, hitting levels not seen since the major disruption to the oil supply chain in May 2020 caused by a Covid-19-related collapse in demand, said Vortexa. Russia averaged about 100m barrels in transit in the months before the war, the energy data analyst said.