Russia’s Ust-Luga oil export terminal will operate at around 350,000 barrels per day in September, or about half its usual capacity, following damage to pipeline infrastructure from Ukrainian drone attacks, two industry sources told Reuters.
The disruption shows how recent Ukrainian strikes targeting key energy facilities are complicating Russian exports and may lead to supply disruptions.
The problems at Ust-Luga come after drone strikes on the Unecha pumping station in Russia’s Bryansk region earlier in August. Unecha is a key transit point for crude heading to Ust-Luga.
The strikes also affected flows via the Druzhba pipeline, which supplies Belarus, Slovakia and Hungary. Slovakia said on Thursday that initial supplies via the pipeline resumed in test mode.
The sources did not specify which pipeline was damaged but confirmed that repair efforts were underway, with no clear timeline for full restoration.
The fall in Ust-Luga capacity will result in oil volumes being diverted to Russia's Primorsk and Novorossiisk ports, the sources said. That may help to limit export losses.
Russian authorities have not publicly commented on the extent of the damage or its impact on export schedules.
Transneft, the pipeline monopoly that operates Russia's pipelines and the oil terminal, declined to comment.
