Oil Loadings Resume at Black Sea Terminals After Attacks

(Bloomberg) — Two key oil ports on Russia’s Black Sea coast resumed loading of tankers overnight following Ukrainian aerial and marine drone attacks on Wednesday.

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal and Transneft PJSC’s Sheskharis facility, both located near the city of Novorossiysk, are currently operational, according to people familiar with the situation, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. Both briefly paused loadings on Wednesday as a precautionary measure amid drone attacks in the area.

A spokesman for CPC said that loadings normally resume when drone alerts are lifted, without confirming that they actually have restarted. Transneft, operator of Sheskharis, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The million-barrel carrying oil tanker Regal I, which was moored a Novorossiysk on Tuesday, left the port on Thursday morning, vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show. The ship is reporting a draft that indicates it’s fully loaded. A smaller one, the Aframax-class ship Navigator Ridge, also appears to have left, the data show, though its draft has yet to be updated.

Imagery from Sentinel satellites, accessed through the European Space Agency’s Copernicus services, show both tankers were berthed at Novorossiysk on Wednesday morning.

Sirens were heard in Novorossiysk on Wednesday as local authorities warned about imminent attacks by aerial drones and drone boats, according to the Telegram channel of the city mayor. CPC’s office in the city center sustained damage, and two employees were injured, according to the company.

Operations at the office have been suspended temporarily with employees working remotely, the CPC operator said in a statement Thursday. The company warned that such attacks “inevitably have large-scale environmental consequences” and disrupt exports to the global market.

Intensifying Attacks

Ukraine has been intensifying its actions against Russian energy infrastructure after US-moderated peace talks stalled, with the Kremlin showing little sign of reaching a compromise to end the war. Drones have been carrying out near-daily strikes on several major Russian refineries, oil pipelines and — more recently — the seaborne export infrastructure. 

Kyiv aims to reduce Russia’s ability to produce fuel for supply to its military and to curtail its foe’s energy export revenues.

Together, the Sheskharis and CPC facilities export well over 2 million barrels a day of Russian and Kazakh oil to global markets, making them pivotal parts of the world’s petroleum supply chain. Seaborne supply of crude globally is about 40 million barrels a day.

Oil-product loadings are ongoing at the Tuapse terminal on the Black Sea coast, about 170 kilometers (106 miles) from Novorossiysk, according to ship-tracking data. 

Ukrainian forces attacked a pier at the terminal on Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the matter. Rosneft PJSC, which runs the terminal, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The incident doesn’t appear to have halted flows. Since late Wednesday, at least three tankers have loaded petroleum products from Tuapse bound for their respective destinations, according to port report and ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.

© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.

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