Russian seaborne crude exports averaged 3.70 mln bpd in the four weeks to Oct
11, down 110k bpd from the four weeks to Oct 4, shipping-tracking data show.
Operations at Black Sea ports have slowed amid heightened security concerns:
satellite imagery of Novorossiysk’s Sheskharis terminal shows tankers occupying
major loading berths for up to four days—about twice the loading time seen at
comparable Baltic ports—reducing shipments. A fully laden tanker was struck by a
drone after leaving Novorossiysk earlier last week, heightening owners’ and
crews’ safety concerns. Russian authorities have rerouted all Kazakh crude
exports through Sheskharis to free Ust-Luga berths for Russian cargoes, but
higher Baltic shipments have not fully offset the Black Sea shortfall.