Freight rates for Russia's flagship Urals crude shipments from western ports to India have jumped by about 50 per cent since mid-July as rising global shipping costs and security risks in the Black Sea deter shipowners from calling at Russian ports, traders said.
Russia is set to increase oil exports from its western ports in August amid firm demand in Asia, but a shortage of tonnage may put a cap on its plans, they added.
Ukraine stepped up attacks on tankers in the Black Sea in July, damaging several vessels and forcing the suspension of loadings at Novorossiysk and the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal.
The heightened security risk in the Black Sea has prompted many shipowners to avoid the region, making it increasingly difficult to secure vessels and delaying cargoes, traders said.
"It appears that many shipowners are pulling out of Russian ports because the risks have become too high," one trader said.
According to traders, the cost of transporting an Aframax cargo, typically carrying 100,000 tonnes, from Primorsk to India has risen to about $13 million from $8 million to $9 million in mid-July.
Freight rates for Suezmax tankers carrying 140,000-tonne Urals cargoes from the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk to India have climbed to around $15 million from around $10 million.
The increase in freight costs could reduce Russia's oil export revenues by about $5 per barrel or more, according to Reuters' calculations. Russia's oil exports from western ports in July fell from June, as repeated Ukrainian attacks in the Black Sea disrupted loadings at Novorossiysk.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
