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Market Chatter: Russia's Novorossiysk Port Resumes Oil Loadings After Drone Strike

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Russia's key Novorossiysk port, which suspended loadings on Friday after a drone strike, has commenced operations, Reuters reported Monday, citing two trade sources.

A Suezmax tanker started loading Kazakh KEBCO crude on Sunday and was expected to depart Monday, while a second tanker is scheduled to load 80,000 tons of KEBCO crude on Tuesday.

A tanker slated to load crude left the port early Friday after an attempted drone attack, which prompted the terminal to suspend crude loadings and stop accepting oil as its storage tanks were full, the report said, citing a source.

The major Black Sea oil port can handle 700,000 barrels per day of oil, including Russia's Urals and Siberian Light grades and Kazakhstan's KEBCO, with loadings conducted at the Sheskharis terminal. The port, which also includes the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminals, is a significant transit route for landlocked Kazakhstan, which depends on infrastructure in Russia for the export of its KEBCO and CPC Blend oil grades.

has reached out to the Russian Energy Ministry for comments.

(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)

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