Unmanned aerial vehicles attacked Russia’s top Black Sea oil port city of Novorossiisk on April 5-6, according to local officials and media, as Russian energy infrastructure continued to come under attack.

The drone attacks several districts in the Krasnodar Krai region, with Novorossiisk targeted in particular, local governor Veniamin Kondratyev said on his Telegram channel. Andrey Kravchenko, mayor of Novorossiisk, said 10 people were injured and 25 buildings were damaged.

ASTRA news reported that the city’s Sheskharis oil terminal was targeted, based on its open-source intelligence analysis. Satellite images from NASA show blazes in Novorossiisk’s port areas.

The Ukrainian military confirmed that it had hit the Sheskharis oil terminal, resulting in a large-scale fire.

Transneft, the Russian state-owned company that operates the terminal, didn’t respond to an email from Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, seeking comments April 6. Ukrainian Armed Forces have yet to claim responsibility for the attack.

The Sheskharis terminal was previously attacked in November and March, leading to disruptions to loadings, Platts reported earlier.

Later, Russia’s military said April 6 that the Novorossiisk transshipment complex was attacked, adding that facilities operated by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium were targeted. The attack resulted in damage to a pipeline and a transshipment berth, as well as fires at four oil storage tanks.

The CPC terminal was previously attacked earlier this year.

The Sheskharis and CPC terminals are both situated at the Novorossiisk port.

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium was not immediately available to comment on April 6.

S&P Global Commodities at Sea(opens in a new tab) data showed 2.27 million barrels/day of Russian and Kazakh crude were loaded from Novorossiisk in March. Total liftings of refined products reached 257,000 b/d, including 163,000 b/d gasoil.

Ukraine has targeted Russia’s main oil ports in the Baltic region — Primorsk and Ust-Luga — and some refineries with drones since March 23, creating challenges for Russian exporters to maintain operations.

Crude exports from Primorsk reached 732,000 b/d in the final week of March, having amounted to 1.1 million-1.2 million b/d earlier in the month, according to CAS data. Ust-Luga exports dropped to 105,000 b/d on March 25-31 from 471,000 b/d in the prior week.

Product liftings from Primorsk fell to 139,000 b/d on March 25-31 from 359,000 b/d in the prior week when fuel oil was not taken into account, while those from Ust-Luga halted in the final week of last month.
Source: Platts