Novorossiisk terminal hopes to boost throughput this year

Vladimir Kovbasyuk, the director of the port of Novorossiisk, told that he hoped the oil terminal at the port would be able to boost throughput this year. Novorossiisk is planning to load 50 mm tons of crude oil and petroleum products onto tankers in 2002, he said. In 2001, the oil terminal loaded 44.2 mm tons of oil and fuel, up 10 % from the year before.
Kovbasyuk indicated that he was not fully confident that Novorossiisk would reach the target figure of 50 mm tons (or 1 mm bpd) in 2002. The Russian government may impose additional restrictions on crude oil exports, he said, or storms may disrupt tanker loadings at the port.
Operations at Novorossiisk are frequently disrupted by storms along the Black Sea coast. Nevertheless, the port has for many years been the main export outlet for Urals blend crude produced by Russian companies; it also handles transit shipments of oil from Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. Presently, about 30 % of all crude oil exported from Russia passes through the Novorossiisk terminal, which has expanded its capacity by about 33 % over the last two years.

Some industry observers believe that Novorossiisk's position as a market leader may be threatened by the opening of new export outlets such as Primorsk, the northern port that will serve as the terminus of the Baltic Pipeline System (BPS), and Yuzhnaya Ozereika, a new Black Sea terminal near Novorossiisk that will serve as the terminus of the Caspian Pipeline System (CPC). Primorsk will be able to handle 240,000 bpd, while Yuzhnaya Ozereika will be able to load 500,000 bpd.
However, Kovbasyuk downplayed this speculation, saying he was not concerned by the prospect of competition. Novorossiisk is still the most attractive option for Russian oil exporters, he declared. The oil terminal's loading tariffs are competitive, and its infrastructure is already in place.
In any event, he added, Primorsk is not exactly a competitor since it was built to serve customers in Northern Europe, while tankers departing fromNovorossiisk serve the Mediterranean market. The CPC is also focusing on the Mediterranean, he noted, but nevertheless Novorossiisk does not see Yuzhnaya Ozereika as a threat to business. Kazakhstan may reduce the amount of oil exported via the Russian port now that the CPC option is open, but analysts believe Russian producers will boost output enough to make up for any fall in Kazakhstani volumes.

Kovbasyuk also said he was not concerned by fuel traders' warnings that the quality of Urals blend crude arriving in Novorossiisk might deteriorate following the opening of the CPC line since Kazakhstani oil tends to be lighter and sweeter than west Siberian oil. The Novorossiisk terminal's staff has not noted any such change in crude quality since the opening of the CPC pipeline, he said. (Most of the oil flowing through the CPC conduit will come from the Tengiz field in western Kazakhstan.)
The largest shareholders in the port are NIKoil, a banking and investment firm, and Russky Generalny Bank. Both NIKoil and Russky Generalny Bank are linked to LUKoil, Russia's largest oil producer and one of the terminal's top customers.