Ukrainian drones caused significant damage to a Russian port. This even had an impact on world trade.
November 16, 2025, 07:29November 16, 2025, 07:29
Thomas Wanhoff / t-online
After an attack by Ukrainian drones and missiles on the port of the Russian city of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea in the Krasnodar region, oil deliveries were temporarily interrupted on Friday. As the Reuters news agency reports, around 2.2 million barrels per day are exported there – around two percent of the world’s oil supply.
An oil tanker in Novorossiysk in 2022.Image: keystone
According to insiders, the Ukrainian attack hit two oil tanker berths at the Sheskhari port terminal. The damage occurred at the berths Berth 1 and Berth 1A, which handle tankers with a tonnage of 40,000 tons and 140,000 tons.
The Ukrainian attack was one of the worst on Russian oil infrastructure. Since August, Kiev has increasingly attacked Russian oil ports and refineries, most recently on Saturday night in the Russian city of Ryazan.
The Ukrainian army said its troops also attacked an oil refinery in Russia’s Saratov region and a fuel depot in the nearby town of Engels. With the attacks, Ukraine wants to reduce the supply of oil and fuel in Russia, but also to hit Russia financially. Because Moscow needs the income from the sale of oil and gas.
Traders fear delivery problems
The attack has already had an impact on global trade: The price of oil rose briefly by two percent as traders worry whether Russia can still supply enough crude oil, reports Reuters. The Russian company Transneft, which has a monopoly on pipelines in Russia, had to briefly stop supplies to the port of Novorossiysk because of the Ukrainian strikes, Reuters reports.
The Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which exports oil from Kazakhstan through the neighboring Yuzhnaya Ozereevka terminal, also suspended oil shipments for several hours and then resumed them when the air alert was lifted, people familiar with the matter said.
According to Russian sources, the attack also damaged a docked ship and an oil depot in Novorossiysk. British maritime security company Ambrey told Reuters that a crane and several containers were also damaged at the port of Novorossiysk. There were no injuries.
Russian crude oil shipments through the Sheskharis terminal in Novorossiysk totaled 3.22 million tonnes, or 761,000 barrels per day, in October, according to Reuters research. In the first ten months of the year this figure was 24.716 million tonnes. Insiders told Reuters that a total of 1.794 million tons of oil products were exported through Novorossiysk in October and oil product exports for January-October totaled 16.783 million tons.
Sources used:
- reuters.com: “Ukrainian drones damage ship, dwellings, oil depot in Russia’s Novorossiysk” (English)