Ukraine Targets Russia's Key Black Sea Oil Port

Overnight on Wednesday, Ukraine launched drone strikes against Russia's key Black Sea oil port in Novorossiysk, resulting in civilian casualties and infrastructure damage. The city's mayor, Andrey Kravchenko, reported that four people were killed and civil infrastructure was hit hard. Ukrainian forces, commanded by Robert Magyar Brovdi, targeted the naval base in Novorossiysk, destroying Russian military vessels, including missile carriers, on the night of September 8-9.

This attack coincided with the ignition of a fire at a fuel oil terminal in Novorossiysk, as per Ukrainian media reports citing social media channels. Ukraine has been repeatedly striking Russia's major Black Sea oil port in recent months, aiming to curb Russian oil exports and revenues for the Kremlin. Several of these attacks have caused significant damages, leading to temporary suspensions of oil loadings at Novorossiysk and the nearby export terminal of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC).

The CPC pipeline, stretching 1,500 kilometers, carries over 80% of Kazakhstan's crude exports from Tengiz oilfield across southern Russia to the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, which is crucial for international producers like Chevron and ExxonMobil. Additionally, Ukraine has targeted Russia's key northern port of Ust-Luga, the primary Russian port for exports of oil and other commodities from the Baltic Sea.

A recent drone attack at the Ust-Luga oil export terminal caused a fire at the site. Furthermore, Ukrainian strikes at Russian refineries, even deep within Russia's territory, have triggered a fuel crisis in Russia, prompting the country to extend a ban on diesel exports until the end of September, thereby tightening the global middle distillate market.