Russia plans to raise oil exports and transit from its western ports by 27 per cent in December from November amid excess crude storage buildup and large rollover volumes from last month due to bad weather and drone attacks, sources said and Reuters calculations show.
Average estimates suggest shipments of Urals, Siberian Light and KEBCO grades via Primorsk, Ust-Luga and Novorossiisk could reach about 2.44 million barrels per day (bpd) in December, up from 1.92 million bpd shipped in November.
Crude oil loadings from Novorossiisk, including Urals, KEBCO and Siberian Light grades, are expected to approach multi-month highs of around 0.9 million bpd, while Primorsk and Ust-Luga will load some 1.6 million bpd of Urals and KEBCO grades combined.
Exports from Russia’s western ports in November fell well short of the plan for about 2.3 million bpd, with some of last month’s cargoes now being loaded onto tankers in early December, industry sources said.
Novorossiisk is handling some 0.7 million tonnes of crude from the November lifting plan in December, they added. October exports and transit from Russia’s western ports, which included some volumes carried over from September, stood at around 2.4 million bpd.
Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiisk temporarily suspended oil exports after a Ukrainian missile and drone attack on November 14 damaged an oil depot and shore facilities at the Sheskharis terminal. Oil flows from Novorossiisk and the CPC marine terminal were again disrupted on November 24 after a drone attack.
Russia’s western ports operated near full capacity in September and October, sources said. Novorossiisk throughput in October reached 0.85 million bpd, including rollover volumes from September.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
