The Russian Black Sea port of Tuapse has halted fuel exports and the local oil refinery has stopped processing crude oil after Ukrainian drone attacks on its infrastructure on November 2, two industry sources told Reuters.
Ukraine said on Sunday that its drones had hit Tuapse, one of Russia's main Black Sea oil ports, causing a fire and damaging at least one ship. The strike was part of Kiev's efforts to undermine Russia's military economy by attacking its energy infrastructure.
The regional administration confirmed that the strike had caused a fire at the port.
For several months, Ukraine has been attacking Russian oil refineries, depots and pipelines, and Ukrainian energy infrastructure has also been the target of Russian strikes in a war that is approaching its fourth year.
The sources said that the Rosneft-controlled The refinery, which exports most of its output, halted processing the next day due to damage to port infrastructure.
Before the attack, Tuapse was expected to increase exports of petroleum products in November.
According to LSEG, three tankers were berthed at the port at the time of the attack to load naphtha, diesel and fuel oil.
As of today, all vessels have been moved from the quays and are anchored near the port.
The export-oriented Tuapse plant, which has a processing capacity of 240,000 barrels of oil per day, produces naphtha, fuel oil, vacuum gas oil and high-sulfur diesel.
The refinery, which has been the target of drone attacks several times, mainly supplies China, Malaysia, Singapore and Turkey.