The war in Iran brought Russia additional oil revenues. What you need to know

The conflict over Iran has brought unexpected benefits to Russia: against the background of a jump in global oil prices, oil and gas budget revenues have increased dramatically. In April, revenue from the mining tax more than doubled, and export revenue reached its highest level since 2022. Despite sanctions and attempts to restrict Russian oil exports, Moscow has been able to boost supplies to Asia and take advantage of disruptions in the Middle East. What you need to know about the impact of the energy crisis on the Russian budget is in the Izvestia article.

Increased revenue

• In April 2026, budget revenues from the mineral extraction tax (MET) increased from 442 billion to 917 billion rubles. The main increase was provided by oil: revenues from its production more than doubled to 771 billion rubles. The increase occurred after a spike in global oil prices amid the conflict in the Middle East. Russia's oil export revenues almost doubled in March and reached $19 billion, recovering from the February drop.

• The government has sent a significant part of the funds to oil companies through support measures. Under the damping mechanism, payments reached 207 billion rubles, and companies received another 152 billion rubles through a refundable excise tax. These tools help to keep fuel supplies to the domestic market at high global prices.

• The Ministry of Finance believes that this year's increase in world oil prices may bring about 200 billion rubles of additional revenue to the Russian budget. This will be reflected after the publication of the May budget data.

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Export growth

• Russia's export revenues from oil sales have risen to their highest level since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine. By May 3, weekly revenue reached $2.42 billion. The growth was driven by higher prices and increased supplies amid the conflict in the Middle East. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has helped the United States to ease some of the sanctions and open up several markets for Russian oil.

• Despite the fact that attacks by Ukrainian drones on terminals in Primorsk, Ust-Luga and Novorossiysk have complicated the work of ports, oil shipments have recovered after repairs. The additional volumes from Murmansk partially offset the decline in shipments via the Baltic and Black Seas. In the four weeks to May 3, exports from Russian ports increased to 3.66 million barrels per day. This is the highest level since December 2025 and almost 500 thousand barrels more than in mid-April.

• Russian oil supplies to India in April remained at about 1.5 million barrels per day. This is lower than the March values, but about 1.5 times higher than the February level. Russia has also sent rare shipments of oil to the Philippines and Japan — Tokyo has already received its fourth shipment after reducing imports in the beginning of 2022.

Attempts to prevent

• Back in 2022, the G7 countries and the European Union banned the import of Russian oil transported by sea, and also imposed a price ceiling of $60 per barrel. As a result, if Russian oil is sold to third countries at a price above the established level, Western companies have been banned from providing various services, in particular transportation and insurance. At the same time, the ceiling was lowered to $47.6 in 2025.

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• They are trying to prevent Russia in other ways. Great Britain is forming the anti-Russian alliance of the Northern fleets. The new association will be based on the United Expeditionary Forces, which includes Great Britain, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway. The countries plan to share weapons, digital systems, logistics, ammunition and personnel, and coordination will take place from London.

• Despite attempts by Western countries to reduce Russia's income through sanctions, Moscow is increasing energy exports to alternative markets, primarily in the Asia-Pacific region.

• Meanwhile, disruptions in oil supplies through the Strait of Hormuz after the attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran led to an increase in commodity prices in Western countries themselves. Europe also faced gas problems: since the end of February 2026, gas prices have increased by 53-90% and reached a maximum since 2023: futures rose to €65.5 per MWh. The reason is the disruption of LNG supplies from Qatar and the Persian Gulf countries, as well as competition with Asia for free volumes of gas. At the same time, gas reserves in the EU remain low — about 30% (we wrote more about the energy crisis here).

• If the crisis drags on, gas prices may rise to $1-1.5 thousand per thousand cubic meters, and oil prices to $150 per barrel. This will increase revenues for large oil and gas exporters, including Russia.

When writing the material, Izvestia took into account the opinions of:

• economist Vasily Koltashov;
• Alexander Frolov, Deputy Director General of the National Energy Institute.