Ukraine's attacks on Russian energy infrastructure at record high – Commerzbank

November saw a record number of Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy targets, with drones hitting refineries and Black Sea tankers, reducing daily processing to around 5 million barrels. One of three mooring facilities for Caspian Pipeline Oil exports was destroyed over the weekend, though loading has resumed via the remaining operational mooring, Commerzbank's commodity analyst Barbara Lambrecht notes.

Black sea Oil tankers and mooring facilities hit by drone attacks

"According to Bloomberg, Ukraine carried out more attacks on Russia's strategic energy infrastructure in November than ever before. Drones attacked Russian refineries at least 14 times: According to estimates by the analysis firm Kpler, daily refinery processing fell to 5 million barrels in November, compared to 5.3 to 5.5 million barrels in late autumn."

"Two tankers in the Black Sea were reportedly attacked, as well as a third tanker that had previously transported Russian Oil. In addition, one of the three mooring facilities at an Oil terminal on the Black Sea, which is needed for shipping Oil from the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) pipeline, was destroyed by a drone attack over the weekend: Kazakhstan had recently been transporting an average of 1.5 million barrels per day to the export terminal via the CPC pipeline."

"The situation is particularly severe because a second mooring is also out of operation due to maintenance work. However, loading via the remaining third mooring is said to have resumed in the meantime."