Russia’s Sheskharis oil terminal at the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk suspended crude loading on August 14 following a drone attack, according to three sources familiar with the situation cited by Reuters. The terminal handles around 700,000 barrels of crude per day and is Russia’s main oil export facility on the Black Sea.
The disruption came after Novorossiysk authorities issued a fresh drone alert. One tanker scheduled to load crude reportedly left for open waters rather than remain at the port. With loading operations suspended, the terminal also stopped accepting incoming crude after its storage tanks reached capacity.
The immediate concern is therefore not only whether tankers can load, but whether crude can continue moving through the wider system. When storage reaches capacity at an export terminal, producers upstream can eventually face a difficult choice: find another route or slow production.
A major outlet for multiple crude streams
Novorossiysk is more than a Russian export point. The terminal handles several crude grades, including Russia’s Urals, Kazakhstan’s KEBCO and Siberian Light. This makes disruption at the port capable of affecting supply chains beyond Russia itself.
The timing is also significant. Crude loadings from Novorossiysk reached almost 1 million barrels per day in July, compared with around 800,000 bpd in June, according to data cited by Reuters. The latest suspension therefore comes after a period of relatively strong export activity.
For Kazakhstan in particular, the development adds another layer of uncertainty. Its crude reaches global markets through infrastructure connected to the Black Sea, including the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) system. CPC exports were already disrupted in July after drone attacks temporarily halted loading at its nearby terminal, contributing to a more than 20% decline in CPC loadings for the month.
The disruption is spreading through the supply chain
The consequences are already being felt by buyers.
Turkey, one of the major purchasers of CPC Blend, Kazakh KEBCO and Russian Urals, received around 900,000 tonnes of oil from Russian ports in July, down from 1.2 million tonnes in June. Of that total, Black Sea supplies fell to just over 300,000 tonnes from about 600,000 tonnes a month earlier.
August shipments are expected to fall further. Reuters reported that Turkey could receive only around 200,000 tonnes from Russia’s Black Sea ports during the month, with the currently expected cargoes consisting of Kazakh KEBCO. No CPC Blend or Urals cargoes were scheduled for Turkey at the time of the report.
Turkish buyers are responding by looking elsewhere, with traders reporting increased purchases from Brazil and Guyana. The shift illustrates how a disruption at a single regional export system can alter crude flows much farther away.
When terminals become part of the energy-security equation
The latest shutdown highlights a vulnerability that extends beyond pipelines themselves.
A crude export system depends on an interconnected chain: production, gathering systems, pipelines, storage tanks, terminals, tankers and ports. A failure or security threat at any one of those points can restrict the entire flow.
That vulnerability has become increasingly visible around Novorossiysk. The Sheskharis suspension follows earlier disruptions to the nearby CPC terminal, while attacks have also affected other port infrastructure in the city.
For pipeline operators and governments, the lesson is increasingly difficult to ignore: building a high-capacity pipeline does not automatically create a resilient export system. The infrastructure at the pipeline’s destination can become its weakest link.
As energy routes face growing geopolitical and security risks, resilience may ultimately depend not on a single pipeline, but on how many credible alternatives exist when that pipeline or the terminal waiting at its end can no longer operate normally.
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