Novorossiysk Port Resumes Oil Loadings After Drone Attack

Russia's main Black Sea oil port of Novorossiysk has resumed crude loadings after a two-day suspension triggered by an attempted drone attack on Friday, according to trading sources.

A Suezmax-class tanker began loading Kazakh KEBCO crude on Sunday and is scheduled to depart on Monday. Another vessel is expected to start loading 80,000 tonnes of KEBCO crude on Tuesday, one source said.

The port, which handles around 700,000 barrels per day, exports Russia's Urals and Siberian Light grades alongside Kazakh KEBCO. Loadings take place at the Sheskharis terminal, the port's primary oil export facility, which also handles fuel and grain.

During the attack, one tanker scheduled to load crude left for open sea early on Friday. The port suspended loadings and stopped accepting oil into the terminal as storage tanks had reached capacity.

The brief shutdown highlights the growing vulnerability of Russian energy infrastructure, which has faced repeated Ukrainian drone attacks in recent months.

Novorossiysk, including both the Sheskharis and Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminals, is also a vital transit route for landlocked Kazakhstan, which relies on Russian infrastructure to export its KEBCO and CPC Blend oil grades to global markets.