Storm on the Black Sea coast disrupted the shipment of oil and grain for export
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The storm on Russia’s Black Sea coast shut down ports and disrupted the shipment of major export cargo, including oil and grain. Unshipped volumes will apparently be postponed to December. Railway traffic in the Adler region and to a lesser extent in Crimea has been affected; passenger trains are already on schedule. Squally winds left almost 2 million people in eight regions without power supply, but there were no major accidents. Elimination of the consequences will last until mid-week.
The strongest storm in decades on the Black Sea disrupted the logistics of Russian export cargo. Due to bad weather, Rosmorrechflot limited navigation in the water area and on the approaches to the Black Sea ports. The Kerch crossing was blocked, and a storm warning remained in place for November 27. The largest port of Novorossiysk, which had been operating intermittently due to bad weather since the middle of the month, stopped transshipping, in particular, oil and grain, which led to a delay in the export schedule for November. According to the Russian Grain Union, due to a storm in the Black Sea, exports in November could fall to 4 million tons from the previously planned 4.2–4.5 million tons.
Supplies through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) pipeline, through which two-thirds of Kazakhstan’s oil is exported, have been almost completely stopped. The stoppage of pumping through the CPC forced Tengizchevroil (a joint venture of Chevron, ExxonMobil, Kazmunaigas and LUKOIL), which is developing the largest field in Kazakhstan, to announce “adjustments to production activities in accordance with changing conditions to ensure safe operation.”
Arkady Zlochevskyhead of the Russian Grain Union, November 27:
“The weather is now very much hindering shipments, and in general it is clear that if earlier estimates ranged from 4.2 to 4.5 million tons per month, then due to recent events, shipments in November may fall to 4 million tons.”
According to Kpler, a tanker with Urals was last loaded from Novorossiysk on November 22, and November 26 was the last shipment of a tanker with gasoline. CPC oil was last shipped from Novorossiysk on November 25. The volume of Urals shipments is now below the capacity of the port in Novorossiysk, notes Victor Katona from Kpler. According to Kpler, Russian oil exports from the Black Sea ports since the beginning of the year have decreased to 485 thousand barrels per day (about 2 million tons per month) against 515 thousand bpd for the same period last year, while the port capacity exceeds 3. 3 million tons per month.
Victor Katona reminds that winter storms in the Black Sea are a common occurrence and exporters have no choice but to wait.
The current serious storm especially threatens CPC pumping, since this oil cannot be redirected to other ports in adequate volumes. According to Kpler, storage capacity in Novorossiysk is approaching capacity and there are no more than two days of free volume left.
Although port operations were stopped, there were some incidents. Near Anapa, the cargo ship Blue Shark with a cargo of 2.8 thousand tons of barley was torn from its anchorage and ran aground, no one was injured, Rosmorrechflot reports. Also, a RIA Novosti source reported about the collapse of three ships in the Kerch Strait with minor damage. In Turkey, where the current storm came from, the situation is more serious. The authorities restricted the movement of ships in the Bosporus and Dardanelles in a southerly direction on November 27. Two bulk carriers, Vamos (with a cargo of mineral fertilizers) and FR Pearl (ballast), were run aground in the ports of Inebolu and Hopa, the crews were evacuated.
Be careful, the lights are going out
As reported by JSC Russian Railways, due to the rampant nature of the disaster on November 26, there was a power outage in the contact network on the Adler-Khosta stretch, trees fell on the railway tracks on the Lazarevskoye-Loo and Loo-Dagomys sections, as well as the erosion of one of the tracks in the area of the Lazarevskaya station (By mid-day, Russian Railways opened traffic on it). About 50 passenger trains were delayed en route. As of 14:30, 27 long-distance trains were delayed en route, passengers were provided with water and food. 21 electric trains on the Tuapse-Adler section were also cancelled.
Grand Service Express (GSE, operator of passenger trains to and from Crimea) told Kommersant that train 315/316 Simferopol-Adler arrived in Adler with a delay of five hours, and started back with a delay of 2.5 hours. The Crimean Railway reports that, in addition to the Simferopol-Adler train, the Sevastopol-St. Petersburg train was delayed for 1.5 hours, the rest are on schedule.
Sochi Airport is operating normally, but warns about the possibility of schedule adjustments. On Sunday, about ten aircraft were diverted to alternate airfields due to bad weather. Aeroflot offered passengers to change their flight date from November 27 free of charge within 24 hours.
The storm wind led to damage to power lines in eight regions: Crimea, Krasnodar Territory, Rostov Region, Dagestan, DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions.
As of 10:00 Moscow time, 1.9 million consumers remained without electricity in these regions; by 16:00, the number had been reduced to 1 million people, the Ministry of Energy reported. The ministry also noted that the main restoration work in Dagestan, the Krasnodar Territory, and the Rostov Region is planned to be completed by the end of the day on November 27. In Zaporozhye and Kherson regions – until the end of the day on November 28, in Crimea, DPR and LPR – until the end of the day on November 29.
The System Operator (SO, energy system dispatcher) told Kommersant that the main outages affected consumers in Crimea, Krasnodar, Kherson, Zaporozhye and Donetsk. There were many power line outages, most of which were successfully brought back into operation at the commands of CO dispatchers. All power plants in the indicated areas are in operation, the CO clarifies. Isolated cases of shutdown of generating equipment were compensated by the loading of the reserve and power flows through the power grid, this also applies to power flows to new territories. “The greatest consequences for consumers are observed in Donetsk – the bad weather situation here is complicated by shelling of Russian energy facilities in the territory of the Northern Military District,” the CO said.
Rosseti clarified to Kommersant that the damage to the network was not accompanied by substation fires. From November 26–27, 12 150–330 kV power lines were damaged in Crimea and four new constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Their restoration has been organized. Directly in the Krasnodar Territory and the Rostov Region, there are no disruptions in the operation of main power facilities, and large industrial consumers were not de-energized, Rosseti noted.
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