Transneft to resume pumping oil to Black Sea ports of Novorossiysk and Tuapse Friday

Transneft will resume pumping oil to the Black Sea ports of Novorossiysk and Tuapse overnight Friday, a source at Transneft said. “The oil will go at once, since the pipe is full”, the source noted. In addition, unfavorable weather conditions could make oil transshipment in Novorossiysk more difficult, and the port was closed for incoming vessels as of 10 am Friday. Meanwhile, six tankers, which were chartered to transport Russian oil, gathered near the port, a port source said. Oil delivery to the Novorossiysk and Tuapse ports and to the Volgograd, Samara and Ukrainian Lisichansk refineries was suspended on the evening of March 3 due to an accident on Transneft’s two trunk pipelines in the Saratov region. The halt in oil transshipment in the Novorossiysk port impacted Urals valuations for Mediterranean deliveries, since this week the Urals differentials have reached a 4-month low, notwithstanding negative efficiency in processing this grade.