Russia’s Novorossiisk oil loadings seen falling 17% in April – sources, calculations

Oil loadings from Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiisk are expected to fall to 2.32 million metric tons in April from 2.9 million in the revised plan for March, two sources familiar with the loading schedule said on Wednesday.

On a daily basis, Novorossiisk’s combined April exports of Urals, Siberian Light and KEBCO oil grades will fall by some 17% from March, Reuters calculations showed.

Russian Urals and Kazakhstan’s KEBCO oil loadings from Baltic ports have been set at 2.2 million tons for April 1-10 versus 2.4 million tons for March 1-10.

Oil loadings from Russia’s western ports for March 20-31 are expected to surpass 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd) and hit the highest level since April 2022 after a fall in processing at refineries hit by Ukrainian drones, but are expected to fall in April as Moscow aims to cut oil production.

Russia’s government has ordered companies to reduce oil output in the second quarter to ensure they meet a production target of 9 million barrels per day (bpd) by the end of June in line with its pledges to OPEC+, three industry sources said on Monday.

Russia will cut its oil output and exports by an additional 471,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the second quarter, in coordination with some OPEC+ participating countries, its Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Sunday.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Reuters; editing by Jan Harvey and Jason Neely)