A reduction in oil production by aggressor country of russia is inevitable, as Ukraine's attacks on ports and oil refining facilities have led to a drop in oil exports by 1 million barrels per day, Reuters reported on Thursday, April 2, citing its own sources.
The agency's unnamed sources said that at least 20% of russia's export capacity was knocked out as a result of the Ukrainian attacks. This is less than the peak of 40% earlier this month. But even this figure is enough to affect oil production.
According to them, pipelines are now clogged with crude oil, and numerous storage facilities are actively filling up. This is due to the fact that Ukraine is attacking both export infrastructure and oil refineries. This will force some oil fields to cut production to prevent further overflowing of the pipeline system.
Even before the latest wave of Ukrainian attacks on the ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk on the Baltic Sea, export opportunities were severely limited. This was caused by the shutdown of the Druzhba pipeline, which Moscow uses to supply raw materials to Hungary and Slovakia.
Reuters sources reported that Transneft, which transports more than 80% of the oil, had informed exporters that the port of Ust-Luga would not be able to load oil according to the original schedule. This was due to damage, in particular to equipment for pumping oil into tankers.
One of the interlocutors added that Transneft had reported that it would not be able to accept into the pipeline system the full volume of oil planned for export through the port of Ust-Luga.
Reuters notes that according to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), oil production in russia was 9.2 million barrels per day in February. The agency's interlocutors were unable to say how much production could be reduced due to the consequences of Ukraine's attacks.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, last Friday, March 27, media outlets reported that russian oil refining companies had warned buyers that they might be forced to declare force majeure in supplies from ports on the Baltic Sea.
And on March 25, it became known that Ukraine's strikes on the ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk had led to the shutdown of about 40% of russia's oil export capacity by sea.
We also wrote that starting April 1, russia has imposed a ban on gasoline exports for all market participants. Previously, it was in effect only for non-producers.
Who we are: About us, Contacts. How we write news and our principles: Editorial code. We did our best. If you found this valuable – please support us.
To request a correction, please send an email.