Data through 2026-09-13 (13 September 2026)
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Drone attacks halt oil loadings at Ust-Luga and Primorsk

Drone attacks halt oil loadings at Ust-Luga and Primorsk. The disruption ran from 2026-03-25 (25 March 2026) to 2026-04-04 (4 April 2026), 11 days, affecting Ust-Luga, Primorsk. No measured effect is published for this event; the effect section explains why.

Key facts

Started
2026-03-25 (25 March 2026)
Ended
2026-04-04 (4 April 2026)
Status
ended
Severity
2 Moderate
Scope
port
Chokepoints
None
Lanes
None
Confidence
medium: Two Bloomberg pieces and a Reuters piece agree on the dates but all are press and no Russian official statement was read. Primorsk has no PortWatch series, and Ust-Luga port calls show no clear fall, so the stoppage is not measured in our data.
First reported
2026-03-25 (25 March 2026)
  • Severity basis: Port-wide stoppage of oil loadings of 24 hours to 7 days at Primorsk, and about 10 days for crude at Ust-Luga (2026-03-25 to 2026-04-04); no closure of other cargo was reported, so the level is set at 2.

What happened

Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia's Baltic oil ports halted loadings on 2026-03-25 (25 March 2026). Bloomberg reported that Ust-Luga paused crude loadings that day after strikes set fire to tanks and loading equipment, and that Primorsk had already stopped for at least 36 hours earlier in the week. Reuters, as carried by The Moscow Times, put the offline share of Russian oil export capacity at about 40 percent, roughly 2 million barrels a day, with at least 50 tankers listing the two ports as destination in the Gulf of Finland. Crude loading at Ust-Luga restarted when the Aframax Jewel began loading on 2026-04-04. IMF PortWatch Ust-Luga port calls do not show a clear fall.

Measured effect

No measured effect is published for this event. There are not enough comparable days before the event to build a baseline.

The effect engine could not build a baseline for Ust-Luga tanker port calls or export tonnage before 2026-03-25: no run of 56 to 112 days had enough valid days.

Timeline

  1. Ukraine hits Primorsk, causing at least a 36 hour pause in cargo loadings, according to shipping information seen by Bloomberg. [s1]
  2. Ust-Luga halts crude loadings after strikes ignite storage tanks; Reuters reports about 40 percent of Russian oil export capacity offline. [s1] [s2]
  3. The tanker Jewel begins loading crude at Ust-Luga, the first restart reported after the halt. [s3]

Cause

Ukraine's General Staff said drones struck Novatek facilities at Ust-Luga; Russian officials confirmed a fire at the port. Attributed by: Ukraine General Staff and the Leningrad governor, as reported by Bloomberg. [s1]

Resolution

2026-04-04 (4 April 2026): Crude loading restarted at Ust-Luga when the tanker Jewel began loading on 2026-04-04. [s3]

Corrections

  • 2026-09-20 (20 September 2026): Removed the two effect targets and set no_effect_reason to insufficient_baseline.. Reason: The effect engine could not build a baseline for either series, so the effect section would have read as pending indefinitely.

Sources

  1. [s1] Rigzone (Bloomberg), Key Russian Port Pauses Oil Loading after Drone Strike, published 2026-03-25 (25 March 2026), accessed 2026-09-20. Archived copy. (press)
  2. [s2] The Moscow Times (Reuters), Ukrainian Drone Strikes Halt at Least 40% of Russia's Oil Export Capacity, published 2026-03-25 (25 March 2026), accessed 2026-09-20. Archived copy. (press)
  3. [s3] Fortune (Bloomberg), Russia's key Baltic port resumes crude loading after attacks, published 2026-04-05 (5 April 2026), accessed 2026-09-20. Archived copy. (press)
  4. [s4] IMF PortWatch, Daily port calls and exports, Ust-Luga, accessed 2026-09-20. (data)