Moscow: Russia’s vital Baltic Sea oil export terminals at Ust-Luga and Primorsk have been unable to accept shipments for a second straight week following a barrage of Ukrainian drone attacks disrupting one of Moscow’s key crude and fuel export lifelines, industry sources said.
These ports, which together handle around 1.5 million barrels per day of Russian oil products — primarily diesel and fuel oil — have long been cornerstones of Europe’s energy supply despite Western sanctions post-2022 Ukraine invasion. Ust-Luga, a multipurpose hub in Leningrad Oblast, and nearby Primorsk have absorbed much of the redirected flows after curbs on seaborne crude to Baltic states.
The latest strikes hammered port infrastructure through late March, logging at least five hits on Ust-Luga alone within 10 days which halted export, piled on major refinery disruptions and now risks slashing Russia’s oil production, sources warned.
Diesel deliveries to Primorsk for export ceased after March 22 leaving refineries across European Russia and Siberia bereft of their most efficient Baltic outlet.
“Diesel fuel has not been accepted in Primorsk since Sunday (March 22),” one industry source said. “They have promised to resume accepting deliveries to the system.”
Traders note refineries are pivoting to expensive rail hauls toward alternative terminals.
Those normally supplying Ust-Luga have rerouted fuel oil for the past week-and-a-half to Vysotsk, farther north along the Gulf of Finland, or to distant Taman on the Black Sea coast. Yet Vysotsk’s limited capacity can’t fully compensate, and Taman requires massive railcar deployments.
Finnish maritime officials told Reuters this week that vessel loadings from Primorsk and Ust-Luga have cratered — from a weekly norm of 40 to 50 ships — to sporadic “individual vessels.”
