By Charles Kennedy of OilPrice.com
Oil tankers carrying Russian oil appear to be avoiding the fastest Black Sea route to the Turkish straits and travel along the Georgian and Turkish coasts to avoid drone attacks from Ukraine, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.
In recent weeks, several ships linked to Russia have been hit by Ukrainian drones in the Black Sea. All targeted vessels were empty at the time of the strikes.
At least two tankers that have loaded oil from Novorossiysk, the Russian port on the Black Sea, have recently traveled along the Georgian and Turkish coasts instead of taking the shortest route to the Bosphorus Strait, according to the data compiled by Bloomberg.
The detour along the Georgian and Turkish coasts would add about 350 miles, or 70%, to the journey of an oil tanker from the port of Novorossiysk to the Turkish straits.
Crude oil exports from the Russian terminals on the Black Sea were much lower in November than originally planned as bad weather and Ukrainian attacks on infrastructure have delayed loadings and departures.
Ukrainian attacks have also crippled Russia’s fuel exports from the Black Sea ports in recent weeks.
Ukrainian drone attacks on refineries in southern Russia and the Black Sea oil port of Tuapse crippled exports of fuels from the Black Sea export terminals in November.
The port of Tuapse suspended fuel exports for half of the month of November, due to the drone attack at the port infrastructure in early November.
An attack on another Black Sea port, Novorossiysk, also led to a slump in crude and fuel shipments.
Ukrainian forces have increasingly targeted Russian oil-refining, storage, and export infrastructure using drones and missiles. The campaign has gained intensity in recent months, with the Center for European Policy Analysis noting a shift in strategy “from smaller-scale strikes on storage tanks to targeting hard-to-replace refinery equipment, like cracking units, much of it western-made and subject to sanctions.”
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