{
  "id": 7338709,
  "title": "Record Freight Costs Squeeze Russia's Black Sea Crude Exports",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/14/record-freight-costs-squeeze-russias-black-sea-crude-exports",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-09-14T15:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "OilPrice",
    "slug": "oilprice",
    "url": "https://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/International/Record-Freight-Costs-Squeeze-Russias-Black-Sea-Crude-Exports.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Record freight expenses are straining Russia's Black Sea crude oil shipments, with costs reaching historic peaks. Ukrainian assaults and a tanker scarcity have driven the key tanker rate for shipping crude oil on an Aframax from Russia's Novorossiysk port to West India and North China to surge for the seventh consecutive week, according to Russian publication Kommersant. The cost to ship crude to India has now reached $23.20 per barrel, while the freight costs to China are $25.70 a barrel, the latest price reporting week revealed. These are the highest export costs for Russia's oil from the Black Sea to Asia, analysts claim, following a seven-week-long increase in freight expenses. Heightened shipping risks, insurance costs, and a scarcity of tankers for the Novorossiysk routes have been pressuring shipping costs in recent months. Many tankers have departed or are occupied on longer voyages in the Middle East, while the Baltic Sea also faces a shortage of vessels to transport Russia's Urals-grade crude from its northwest Baltic ports. Despite the surge in shipping costs, profits persist amid the upward trend in international crude oil prices. Ukraine has repeatedly struck Russia's primary Black Sea oil port, Novorossiysk, to curb Russian oil exports and earnings for the Kremlin, causing temporary shutdowns at the port and the nearby export terminal of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium.",
  "summary": "Heightened shipping threats from Ukrainian attacks and a shortage of tankers have pushed the freight costs for Russia’s crude oil exports from the Black Sea to record highs. In the week to September 6, the key tanker rate for shipping crude oil on an Aframax from the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk to West India and North China rose for the seventh straight week, by 2.7% and 3.1% from the week…",
  "key_points": [
    "Record freight costs hit historic peaks for Russia's Black Sea crude exports.",
    "Ukrainian attacks and tanker scarcity driving up tanker rates for Aframax ships.",
    "Shipping costs to India and China now $23.20 and $25.70 per barrel, respectively."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}