Drone Strike Sparks Fire at Key Russian Oil Terminal in Novorossiysk
A drone attack on Novorossiysk caused a major fuel tank fire at an oil terminal, adding to recent export disruptions.
A significant fire broke out at the Novorossiysk Fuel Oil Terminal on Russia's Black Sea coast following a prolonged drone attack overnight, according to two industry sources. The incident has raised fresh concerns about the stability of oil exports from one of Russia's key maritime hubs.
The blaze involved a storage tank with a capacity of approximately 37,000 cubic metres, which was holding oil products at the time of the strike. The terminal, which has two dedicated berths capable of handling vessels up to 60,000 tons deadweight, can process up to 5 million metric tons of oil products annually.
Andrei Kravchenko, the mayor of Novorossiysk, reported on Telegram that drone debris had fallen on the premises of several businesses and near a residential building in the city. The terminal's operators have not yet commented on the extent of the damage or the fire's impact on loading schedules.
The attack is part of a series of recent Ukrainian drone strikes that have increasingly disrupted oil exports from Novorossiysk. These repeated incidents have exacerbated a shortage of available tankers and led to significant delays in loading operations at the port.