Freight rates for tankers to ship Urals crude from Russia’s western ports to India have risen this month, as bad weather made fewer vessels available, disrupted loading and unloading and the cost of insuring for war risks increased, industry sources told Reuters on Friday.
Drones struck two oil tankers in the Black Sea on Tuesday, including one chartered by U.S. oil major Chevron, the companies involved said.
Greece has told its shipping fleet to upgrade security measures to the highest possible when sailing to Russian Black Sea ports after drone attacks on two Greek-operated tankers this week.
Freight costs to transport Urals from the Baltic ports of Primorsk and Ust-Luga to India for February-loading average some $9 million for Aframax tankers, up from about $8 million per one-way voyage in November and December last year.
Rates for similar shipments from Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiisk by Suezmax tankers, which can hold 140,000 metric tons, have risen to around $8 million from some $7 million in the previous two months.
Traders said at the end of last year Russian crude exports would fall in January because of higher domestic refinery runs as well as possible weather-related disruption. The reduced need for vessels should limit the rise in freight rates.
Shipments of Urals, Siberian Light and KEBCO crude grades via the ports of Primorsk, Ust-Luga and Novorossiisk are forecast to decline to about 2.2 million barrels per day from around 2.4 million bpd in the December plan, according to trading sources and Reuters calculations.
As Greek shipowners reduce their presence in the region, Urals shipments Russian ports are increasingly handled by tankers from the shadow fleet, sources told Reuters.
(Reuters)
