Russia's Ust-Luga port continues crude, fuel exports while Novatek terminal shut

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga was exporting crude oil and fuel on Tuesday apart from at Novatek's terminal which remained closed after being damaged by fire, according to data from LSEG and industry sources.

Novatek said on Sunday it had been forced to suspend some operations at the huge Baltic Sea fuel export terminal and "technological processes" at its fuel-producing complex due to a fire, started by what Ukrainian media said was a drone attack.

Analysts believe it will take weeks to restart large-scale operations at the complex and the terminal.

The giant port of Ust-Luga, located on the Gulf of Finland about 170 km (110 miles) west of St. Petersburg, ships a wide range of goods, including oil and gas products, to international markets.

Its facilities include one terminal for crude oil exports and three terminals for handling fuel shipments, including Novatek's terminal.

According to LSEG data, 5.2 million tons of naphtha were shipped to Asia in 2023 from the port of Ust-Luga, of which 2.8 million tons originated from Novatek's terminal.

According to LSEG ship-tracking data, two tankers, Adebomi and Bay Global, are currently being loaded at the crude export terminal.

Naphtha and fuel oil are loaded onto Clearocean Apollon Clyde Noble tankers at the nearby Ust-Luga Oil terminal.

Another terminal, called Portenergo, handles the Joyce (gasoline) and Alcor (liquefied petroleum gas) tankers.

Minerva Julie, which had been expected to load with fuel at the Novatek terminal over the weekend, is currently idle offshore.

The complex gets gas condensate, a type of light oil, for processing some 7 million metric tons per year from Novatek's Purovsky plant in Western Siberia for further production of oil products, such as naphtha, jet fuel and gasoil.

Novatek produces mostly naphtha for Asia, including China, Singapore, Taiwan and Malaysia, as well as jet fuel with delivery to Istanbul for Turkish Airlines.

(Reporting by Reuters; writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; editing by Susan Fenton)