The AFU Has Dealt The Most Powerful Blow To Russia's Oil Industry Since The Start Of The War
- 17.11.2025, 11:24
Russia has not shipped oil for two days.
The attack on Novorossiysk, Russia's largest port on the Black Sea, knocked out up to 2 percent of global oil supplies and raised prices for crude by more than 2 percent in two days. Telegram channel "We Can Explain" examined analysis from the US and European press to understand what is happening to the port now and how it is affecting the market.
A Ukrainian missile strike on the Sheskharis terminal has halted oil loading in Novorossiysk for two days, Reuters reported. Two berths were damaged in the strike, the agency said. Russia resumed oil loading on Sunday, with Arlan and Rodos tankers loading at the port. The CPC terminal, which is the main channel for exporting Kazakh oil, has been restarted.
About 20% of Russia's maritime exports go through Novorossiysk: in October alone, 761,000 barrels per day passed through Sheskharis, with another 1.79 million tons of oil products passing through the port's other facilities. A long shutdown would force Russia to mothball wells in Western Siberia, an extremely painful process for the industry.
EuroNews recalls that the strike on Sheskharis was the largest on the Black Sea since the war. The terminal is the terminus of several trunk pipelines. After the attack, a fire broke out, coastal facilities were damaged, a civilian ship was hit, and three crew members were wounded.
Bloomberg notes that in parallel, Ukraine struck Rosneft's Novokuibyshevsk refinery in the Samara region, a 170,000 bpd facility that had already been attacked in August. Kiev claims that infrastructure elements were hit, but Rosneft has not commented on the incidents.
The strike on Novorossiysk was a test of the sustainability of global supplies, Reuters notes. According to the publication, the halt of 2.2 million bpd of exports is a blow to about 2% of global sales, which is enough to push prices up. The 2% increase occurred on the day of the attack, as Novorossiysk is one of Russia's largest hubs, and its long downtime could sharply reduce supply in the market.