Drones attack fuel oil terminal in Novorossiysk, sparking fire

Drones attacked the Russian city of Novorossiysk in Krasnodar Krai on the night of 8-9 September, causing a fire at a fuel oil terminal.

Source: Russian media outlet Astra; Novorossiysk Mayor Andrei Kravchenko; monitoring Telegram channels

Details: Around midnight, residents of Novorossiysk reported hearing drones flying overhead, Russian air defence systems responding and explosions. Videos of a fire near the city's port infrastructure appeared online shortly afterwards.

Kravchenko confirmed that a fire had broken out but claimed that it was caused by drone debris that had landed at the site. He did not name the facility that was attacked or provide information about the extent of the damage or any casualties.

Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) analysis by ASTRA has established that the fire broke out at the Novorossiysk Fuel Oil Terminal.

According to Dnipro Osint, the strike had hit facilities at the port complex, damaging at least one storage tank at the fuel oil terminal.

Novorossiysk Fuel Oil Terminal is one of the main facilities in the Novorossiysk transport hub, which forms part of the Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port, Russia's largest seaport in terms of cargo throughput. It handles the storage and transshipment of fuel oil and light petroleum products, with a throughput capacity of approximately 4 million tonnes per year.

Background:

• The Monitoring Group of the Black Sea Strategic Studies Institute previously reported that in July, systematic Ukrainian Armed Forces and Security Service of Ukraine attacks on Russian infrastructure and tankers in the Black and Azov seas reduced Russia's oil product shipments by 45.6% compared with June.
• On 12 August, Russia's two largest grain terminals in the southern port of Novorossiysk suspended operations following Ukrainian drone strikes.
• During the first 20 days of August, exports of Russian crude oil from Black Sea ports fell by a factor of 3.2 to around 1.7 million tonnes, compared with 5.5 million tonnes in July.
• According to Reuters, Russia suspended crude oil exports from the Sheskharis terminal at the port of Novorossiysk following a drone attack.
• In addition, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), the world's largest container shipping company, has cancelled all new bookings for cargo bound for Novorossiysk because of the risks to shipping.

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