Russia’s northwest, where a significant portion of its oil exports are located, has suffered greatly from Ukrainian drone attacks. On March 25, a drone struck the Russian coast guard ship Purga in the harbor of the strategic city of Vyborg, just north of Saint Petersburg. Shortly afterwards, images of thick, black clouds of smoke filled Russian social media and one photo circulated showing the ship half-capsized in port. That same day, Ukrainian drones struck oil terminals and other infrastructure at the ports of Ust-Luga and Primorsk on the Gulf of Finland near St. Petersburg, and the Kirishi refinery further inland.
Although the exact extent of the damage is unclear, Russia is once again suffering costly losses. The Poerga (Russian for snowstorm) is part of a series of advanced icebreakerswhich are being developed by the Russian Navy and the FSB secret service for patrols in the difficult-to-navigate Arctic region. The 24-meter-long colossus cost around 18 billion rubles (more than 194 million euros) and has advanced artillery and a helicopter landing site. A second ship, the Dzerzhinsky – named after the infamous founder of the Czech Bolshevik secret service – has been under construction in Vyborg since 2023.
The affected oil terminals in Primorsk and Ust-Luga on the Gulf of Finland are important transhipment points for the export of Russian crude oil to international markets. The attacks caused fires and halted loading operations for several days, reported Bloomberg Tuesday. According to Reuters This means that 20 percent of Russia’s total oil export capacity has come to a standstill. In addition, the pipeline system supplying crude oil from Siberia would become clogged and available storage facilities would quickly fill up, three unnamed industry sources told Reuters. To avoid flooding the system, some oil fields are reportedly considering cutting production.
Flourishing oil sales
The setbacks come at a time when Russian oil sales are briefly flourishing again despite the sanctions, due to the war in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz off the Iranian coast. Due to the global oil shortage, the United States granted temporary exemptions for the sale of sanctioned Russian oil, which had been loaded onto tankers before mid-March. According to Bloomberg, crude oil arrivals in India rose to nearly 1.7 million barrels per day last month, up from about 1.1 million barrels per day in February. However, the available oil at sea is quickly coming to an end and it is unclear whether American President Trump will come up with new exemptions.
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Due to the damaged infrastructure in the Russian ports near Saint Petersburg, Murmansk, much further north, is in danger of becoming an important transit port for Russian oil. The Kola Peninsula Bay is also an important transshipment point for Arctic oil to international markets. This concerns oil that comes from eastern fields managed by the oil (and gas) companies Rosneft, Gazprom Neft and Lukoil and oil that is brought from the Komi region and from western Siberia by train to Murmansk for further transport via shadow tankers.
The Russian oil terminal in Primorsk after an attack by a Ukrainian drone.
photo via AFP
In Norway, Russian oil shipments are followed with suspicion. The country does not want rusty shadow tankers off its coast, which often have no clear owner or insurance and pose a threat to the coast. Last month, the 23-year-old tanker Paz, carrying 150,000 tons of oil, caused a stir in Norway because it could not show insurance to cover any environmental damage in the event of a disaster. The originally Norwegian ship has already changed flag four times, but the owner is unknown. wrote the Norwegian news site The Barents Observer. Norway also has to assure about espionage activities of Russian tankers and fishing vessels.
Permission to enter
While the Norwegian government is not yet blocking the shadow tankers, the British government gave permission to the army and navy to board suspected ships in British waters at the end of March. “Putin is rubbing his hands (..) because he thinks higher oil prices will make him rich. That’s why we’re cracking down on his shadow fleet even harder,” wrote British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement. With British help entered the French Navy on the Mediterranean shadow tanker Deynadeparted from Murmansk and sailed under the flag of Mozambique. Much to the dissatisfaction of the Russian government, other European countries also maintain shadow tankers.
Moscow reacts fiercely to ‘hijacking attempts’ and ‘terrorist attacks’
The fact that the Ukrainian drone attacks and the entry of shadow tankers by European countries worry Moscow is evident from Moscow’s fierce response, which speaks of “hostile attacks”, “hijacking attempts” and “terrorist attacksIn mid-March, the Russian Maritime Council, chaired by former FSB director and presidential adviser Nikolai Patrushev, met to discuss additional measures to secure the shadow fleet, maritime infrastructure and oil terminals. an interview with the newspaper Kommersant Patrushev called it an “unprecedented campaign” against Russian ships. “Some countries have simply gone too far in their pursuit of tankers, bulk carriers and container ships.”
Patrushev, who was still trembling in front of Putin during the 2022 invasion, stated that Russia will take additional measures to counter “attacks” from European countries and strengthen its naval capacity. In the short term, he mentioned the deployment of mobile fire teams to escort ships, better protection on board to combat disasters and the development of advanced maritime drones for surveillance at sea. “Should new maritime threats arise from European countries, we will develop additional measures,” Patrushev said.
