Articles
Exports of "Kazakh-Russian" crude oil from Russian ports on the Black Sea in April-May 2022 (2)
27 June 2022
Note that two separate streams of crude oil are exported from Russian Black Sea ports: the first one consists of only crude oil originating from Russian fields, and the second one is a blend of crude oil from Kazakhstan (80%) with Russian crude oil from Lukoil fields located in the RF (20%). The blend of Kazakh and Russian crude oil is exported exclusively through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium’s pipeline and its separate CPC terminal in Novorossiysk. This oil is not subject to EU sanctions, which were introduced on 03 June 2022.
Blocked ships in Ukrainian ports during the war: The port of Kherson
24 June 2022
The Monitoring Group of the Black Sea Institute of Strategic Studies and BlackSeaNews wishes to bring to your attention a new series of articles about the fate of ships that were in Ukrainian ports on 24 February 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of many regions of Ukraine.
Blood Oil: Russia’s export of petroleum products from the ports of the Black and Azov Seas in May 2022 (1). Russian crude oil
22 June 2022
From 1 to 31 May 2022, the total amount of Russian oil and petroleum products exported from Russian ports on the Black and Azov Seas amounted to at least 13,995,558 tons. Compared to April 2022, there was an increase of 27.5% or 3 million tons.
Russia's threats to strike at "decision-making centres": History, chronology, conclusions, and forecasts
17 June 2022
On 13 April 2022, the Russian Defence Ministry called “the strikes on Russian territories along the state border with Ukraine and sabotage operations in Russian border areas” the reason for striking at decision-making centres. Russian media immediately clarified: “It is not difficult to guess what decision-making centres we are talking about. This is the residence of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defence, and the General Staff of the country.”
Blood Oil: Russia’s export of oil and petroleum products from the ports of the Black and Azov Seas in April 2022
27 May 2022
From 1 to 30 April 2022, the total amount of Russian oil and petroleum products exported from Russian ports on the Black and Azov Seas amounted to at least 10,900,000 tons. The total number of oil tankers was 182. 142 oil tankers (78%) were received by the ports of NATO and EU countries. The undisputed leader was Turkey, whose ports received 56 oil tankers, or almost 30.8%. Greece ranked second with 42 oil tankers received, or almost 23.1%.
The Presence of Russian Warships in the Mediterranean Sea as of 10 May 2022
11 May 2022
As of 10 May 2022, the same naval group is present in the Mediterranean Sea as was on 7 February 2022 - i.e. no changes have taken place over the last 3 months. There are 13 ships and 5 support vessels of the four Russian fleets, including 9 attack missile ships. This situation is a consequence of Turkey’s decision, which was announced on 27 February 2022, to ban the passage through the straits of any warships, including ships of non-Black Sea NATO countries
Blocked ships in Ukrainian ports during the war: the Pivdenny commercial sea port
11 May 2022
As of 24 February 2022, in the Pivdennyi commercial sea port (Yuzhne city, the Odesa region, Ukraine, international port code UA YUZ), in addition to port fleet vessels permanently based in the port, there were 9 merchant ships (See Table 1). All of them have remained in port under blockade. Thus, out of the 9 ships blocked in the Pivdennyi sea port, 6 belong to shipowners from EU countries, 3 - to shipowners from Japan.
Blood Oil. On 11/04–17/04/2022, at Least 50 Oil Tankers Transported About 3,000,000 Tons of Russian Oil Through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles for Export
18 April 2022
The Monitoring Group of BlackSeaNews and the Black Sea Institute of Strategic Studies reports: on 11/04–17/04/2022, at least 50 oil tankers transported about 3,000,000 tons of Russian blood oil through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles for export. Reference: 3,000,000 tons of Russian URALS oil costs about $2,000 million, which is equivalent to the cost of about 300 Russian Kalibr cruise missiles.
Blood Oil. On 04/04–10/04/2022, at Least 42 Oil Tankers Transported About 2,200,000 Tons of Russian Oil Through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles for Export
11 April 2022
The Monitoring Group of BlackSeaNews and the Black Sea Institute of Strategic Studies reports: on 04/04–10/04/2022, at least 42 oil tankers transported about 2,200,000 tons of Russian blood oil through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles for export. Reference: 2,200,000 tons of Russian URALS oil costs about $1,400 million, which is equivalent to the cost of about 220 Russian Kalibr cruise missiles.
Ships blocked in Ukrainian ports during the war: The ports of the Mykolaiv region
10 April 2022
As of 24 February 2022, in the commercial sea ports of the Mykolaiv region (international port codes UA NLV MYKOLAIV, UA OCT OLVIA, UA NIKA TERA, UA DNB DNEPROBUGSKY), in addition to port fleet vessels permanently based there, there were 29 merchant ships (See Table 1). All of them have remained in port under blockade. Thus, out of the 29 ships blocked in the seaports of the Mykolaiv region as a result of Russia’s war against Ukraine, 13 belong to shipowners from EU+ countries and 16 - to shipowners from other countries.
Blocked ships in Ukrainian ports during the war: The port of Mariupol
08 April 2022
The Monitoring Group of the Black Sea Institute of Strategic Studies and BlackSeaNews wishes to bring to your attention a new series of articles about the fate of ships that were in Ukrainian ports on 24 February 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of many regions of Ukraine.
Blood Oil: Russian export of petroleum products from the ports of the Black and Azov Seas from 14/03/2022 to 31/03/2022
07 April 2022
In the second half of March 2022, the total amount of Russian oil exported from the ports of the Black and Azov Seas was at least 7,700,000 tons. The number of oil tankers was 116. The cost of this blood URALS oil is estimated at about $ 5.24 billion. This amount is equivalent to the cost of about 770 Kalibr cruise missiles. 86 oil tankers (74%) were received by the ports of NATO and EU countries. 60% of these oil tankers belong to shipowners from EU and NATO countries.
Blood Oil. On 31/03-03/04/2022, at Least 10 Oil Tankers Transported About 140,000 Tons of Russian Oil Through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles for Export
04 April 2022
The Monitoring Group of BlackSeaNews and the Black Sea Institute of Strategic Studies reports: on 31/03-03/04/2022, at least 10oil tankers transported about 140,000 tons of Russian blood oil through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles for export. Reference: 140,000 tons of Russian URALS oil costs about $95 million, which is equivalent to the cost of about 14 Russian Kalibr cruise missiles.
Blood Oil. On 29-30/03/2022, at Least 12 Oil Tankers Transported About 1 Million Tons of Russian Oil Through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles for Export
31 March 2022
The Monitoring Group of BlackSeaNews and the Black Sea Institute of Strategic Studies reports: on 29-30/03/2022, at least 12 oil tankers transported about 1 million tons of Russian blood oil through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles for export. Reference: 1 million tons of Russian URALS oil costs about $680 million, which is equivalent to the cost of about 100 Russian Kalibr cruise missiles.
Blood Oil. On 28/03/2022, at Least 8 Oil Tankers Transported About 600,000 Tons of Russian Oil Through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles for Export
29 March 2022
The Monitoring Group of BlackSeaNews and the Black Sea Institute of Strategic Studies reports: on 28/03/2022, at least 8 oil tankers transported about 600,000 tons of Russian blood oil through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles for export. Reference: 600,000 tons of Russian URALS oil costs about $400 million, which is equivalent to the cost of about 60 Russian Kalibr cruise missiles.