One of Russia’s biggest energy companies and exporters, Novatek, has resumed gas condensate processing at its second unit at Ust-Luga, a major complex and export port on the Russian Baltic Sea, a month after it was damaged by a Ukrainian drone attack, market sources told Reuters on Wednesday.
Until the unit was fixed to become operational again, Novatek rerouted approximately 70,000 metric tons of gas condensate to the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.
The Ust-Luga complex, operated by Novatek, was hit by a Ukrainian drone strike at the end of August. It was the second time Ukraine has attacked – and damaged – the Ust-Luga port this year.
As a result of the late August strike, the three units at Novatek’s complex were damaged after a fire. Reports had it that all operations at the complex were shut in for several days, including loadings of fuel.
One unit of the damaged complex was expected to resume operations within days of the drone hit, but a second unit was set to take several weeks to repair. Repairs at a separate unit that was most seriously damaged by the attack could take up to six months, according to market sources who spoke to Reuters at the time.
Ust-Luga, one of the key export hubs for Russian crude oil and fuels, has three processing units and refines stable gas condensate into light and heavy naphtha, jet fuel, fuel oil, and gasoil.
The August attack on Ust-Luga was the second time this year that Ukraine has hit and damaged the Novatek complex at the port.
In January, the Russian company was forced to suspend operations at the fuel export terminal at the Ust-Luga complex following a drone attack by Ukrainian forces, which caused a fire at one fuel storage tank.
Meanwhile, Russia is considering extending its current ban on exports of gasoline and introducing a ban on diesel exports as fuel shortages have emerged amid intensified Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries and other energy infrastructure.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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