The Rosneft Tuapse Oil Refinery stopped processing oil and as well as the production of petroleum products following an attack by Ukrainian drones. This is Russia’s only oil refinery on the Black Sea coast, it is among the ten largest in the country, and it processes up to nine million tons of raw materials every year. This strike was at least the fourth in the past week to target a Russian energy infrastructure facility.
In addition, 14 tankers loaded with 10 million barrels of Russian Sokol crude oil destined for the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) are in limbo off the coast of South Korea. The oil has not yet been sold due to US sanctions and payment problems.
Reuters calls this one of Russia’s worst failures in the export of oil in the last two years.
The sanctions imposed by the US on a new Russian plant in Siberia (Arctic LNG-2) that produces liquefied natural gas destroyed plans to start exports. The operator of the Novatek plant has been trying to find buyers since November, and the first shipment has been postponed until at least February.