Exports and transit of oil at the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk are running up to 10 days behind schedule amid persistent storms and drone attacks, one of which forced a suspension of loadings early this month, according to three sources and Reuters estimates.
"Every time a danger alert is announced, tankers are unmoored from the berths and sent out to sea," a Reuters source in trade said.
According to LSEG data, industry sources, and Reuters estimates, shipments of Urals and KEBCO crude from Novorossiysk in the first 10 days of March averaged about 200,000 barrels per day (bpd), about half of which were carryover volumes from February.
"Russia's Black Sea ports are constantly closed for one of three reasons: storms, diving inspections, or threats of attacks," another source in the oil industry said.
The main oil trans-shipment plan for Novorossiysk in March called for shipments of around 450,000 bpd.
Shipments of oil products from Novorossiysk have also been running about a week behind schedule, sources reported, with actual exports totaling around 210,000 tons in the first 10 days of March compared to 460,000 tons a month earlier.
A Ukrainian drone attack on the Tikhoretsk oil pumping station in the Krasnodar region could also potentially disrupt oil flows to Novorossiysk, sources said, although they currently have no information on the consequences of the attack.
According to one of the sources, exporters are attempting to redirect shipments from the Black Sea port to other routes, but Baltic ports are also facing capacity constraints due to a shortage of vessels and ice restrictions.
On March 6, Novorossiysk resumed oil transshipment to tankers after a drone strike on the Sheskharis terminal on March 2. However, the pace of loading remains low, as the port is frequently forced to halt operations and move tankers away from the berths due to the threat of drone attacks.
(Reporting by Reuters, editing by Andrei Khalip)
