Russian port Novorossiisk is not loading any oil shipments and, along with other Russian ports on the Black and Azov Seas, has suspended loading grains due to stormy weather, a port official and a trader said on Monday.
Novorossiisk, Russia's largest Black Sea port, decided to stop new oil shipments at 3.15 a.m. on Monday (0015 GMT) as a second storm approached, the port official told Reuters.
"All shipments now depend on weather conditions. We will not re-start until we hear the storms have cleared," he said, adding that stormy weather is typical for November. A severe storm sank at least four ships and split open a small oil tanker at the northern mouth of the Black Sea late on Sunday. A major rescue operation was under way.
A second storm was expected over the next few hours, with a wind speed of 18-23 metres per second and waves reaching five metres in height, the port official said.
Five ships have been anchored offshore to minimise damage.
Three of the anchored ships have a crude oil capacity of 80,000 tonnes each. The deadweight of the remaining two -- used for refined products -- was unknown, the official said.
He said the oil tankers could be half-full, having been partially loaded before the storm broke. Russia's
An empty tanker with capacity of 140,000 tonnes of crude oil was on its way to Novorossiisk but would also be anchored, he said.
Grain shipments from Novorossiisk and ports on the Azov Sea have been suspended on the same day that a 10 percent export tariff on wheat and a 30 percent tariff on barley take effect.
"Although stormy weather is typical of the season, we have not had such bad storms for quite some time. Loading of ships has either slowed down or has been suspended altogether," a logistics official at a major Western grain trading firm said.
"There will definitely be a decline in exports. But there are still contracts which have to be honoured, irrespective of the tariff," he said.
An Energy Ministry source told Reuters a total of 13 ships had been damaged, sunk or driven aground by the storm on Sunday.
The tanker that sank was a 'river-sea' class ship, not an ocean-going tanker, he said.
It was part of a fleet that plies a route from oil refineries in central Russia to the Ukrainian port of Kerch, where cargoes are offloaded into floating storage and reloaded onto bigger tankers for export. In October, the Novorossiisk port shipped 3.94 million tonnes of crude oil, 283,000 tonnes of diesel fuel and 74,000 tonnes of petrol.
For November, traders had scheduled 3.42 million tonnes of crude shipments from Novorossiisk prior to the storms.
October grain shipments from all Russian ports is forecast by analysts to have set a second consecutive monthly record of at least 2.5 million tonnes as exporters rushed to beat the tariffs. Final data is not yet available.
Novorossiisk, Russia's largest Black Sea port, decided to stop new oil shipments at 3.15 a.m. on Monday (0015 GMT) as a second storm approached, the port official told Reuters.
"All shipments now depend on weather conditions. We will not re-start until we hear the storms have cleared," he said, adding that stormy weather is typical for November. A severe storm sank at least four ships and split open a small oil tanker at the northern mouth of the Black Sea late on Sunday. A major rescue operation was under way.
A second storm was expected over the next few hours, with a wind speed of 18-23 metres per second and waves reaching five metres in height, the port official said.
Five ships have been anchored offshore to minimise damage.
Three of the anchored ships have a crude oil capacity of 80,000 tonnes each. The deadweight of the remaining two -- used for refined products -- was unknown, the official said.
He said the oil tankers could be half-full, having been partially loaded before the storm broke. Russia's
An empty tanker with capacity of 140,000 tonnes of crude oil was on its way to Novorossiisk but would also be anchored, he said.
Grain shipments from Novorossiisk and ports on the Azov Sea have been suspended on the same day that a 10 percent export tariff on wheat and a 30 percent tariff on barley take effect.
"Although stormy weather is typical of the season, we have not had such bad storms for quite some time. Loading of ships has either slowed down or has been suspended altogether," a logistics official at a major Western grain trading firm said.
"There will definitely be a decline in exports. But there are still contracts which have to be honoured, irrespective of the tariff," he said.
An Energy Ministry source told Reuters a total of 13 ships had been damaged, sunk or driven aground by the storm on Sunday.
The tanker that sank was a 'river-sea' class ship, not an ocean-going tanker, he said.
It was part of a fleet that plies a route from oil refineries in central Russia to the Ukrainian port of Kerch, where cargoes are offloaded into floating storage and reloaded onto bigger tankers for export. In October, the Novorossiisk port shipped 3.94 million tonnes of crude oil, 283,000 tonnes of diesel fuel and 74,000 tonnes of petrol.
For November, traders had scheduled 3.42 million tonnes of crude shipments from Novorossiisk prior to the storms.
October grain shipments from all Russian ports is forecast by analysts to have set a second consecutive monthly record of at least 2.5 million tonnes as exporters rushed to beat the tariffs. Final data is not yet available.