MOSCOW, March 1. /TASS/. February 2023 was a historically bad weather month in Novorossiysk, and this prevented hitting targets for oil and petroleum product exports from the port, with some tanker positions rescheduled for March, Transneft’s spokesman Igor Dyomin told TASS.
Meanwhile, the company managed to meet its goals for exports from Baltic ports and from the Far Eastern Kozmino.
"In February, it was stormy in Novorossiysk for a total of almost 19 days. In recent years, January 2022 was comparable in terms of stormy weather with 19.7 days. Last February the storm lasted for 14.5 days in Novorossiysk. Naturally, this year, some tanker positions were transferred to March, meaning they were rescheduled from February to March, with the Novorossiysk export plan being unfulfilled due to storms. As for the rest of the ports, monthly targets were met there. The number of stormy days in Primorsk and Ust-Luga was minimal, while in Kozmino - less than a day. Plans in those areas were implemented," he said when asked about the storm situation and planned shipments.
That said, the number of stormy days in Novorossiysk is usually lower in March than in February, the spokesman added. In particular, there were only ten such days in March 2022.
Transneft Chief Executive Officer Nikolay Tokarev told reporters earlier that Russian oil exports from marine ports were underway as scheduled, with minor delays due to weather conditions. In 2022, 111 out of 365 days were stormy in Novorossiysk, he added.
Moreover, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium suspended exports from its marine terminal near Novorossiysk several times in the second half of February. The company fully resumed shipments only on February 27.
On December 5, 2022, an embargo on maritime Russian oil shipments to the European Union came into force. G7 nations, the EU and Australia agreed on a price cap for Russian oil delivered by sea, setting the ceiling at $60 a barrel. Moreover, starting February 5, 2023, similar restrictions on deliveries of petroleum products from Russia were enforced as the EU Council officially greenlighted the decision, in conjunction with the G7, to introduce a price ceiling on Russian petroleum products supplied by sea at $100 for premium oil and at $45 for discount.