Oil prices rose significantly on Friday, recovering from the losses suffered the previous day. The price of Brent crude jumped from its previous low of around $2 to $68 per barre, Commerzbank's commodity analyst Carsten Fritsch notes.
"This was triggered by news that Ukraine had attacked Russia's largest Oil export port, Primorsk, on the Baltic Sea with drones for the first time. As a result, the loading of Oil tankers in the port had to be suspended. According to Bloomberg, nearly 1 million barrels per day were exported from this port in August. Recently, another Baltic Sea port and a pipeline to this port had already been the target of drone attacks. However, this did not have any noticeable impact on Oil supplies."
"According to data from Bloomberg, seaborne Oil exports from Russian Baltic Sea ports rose to their highest level since mid-July in the first week of September, with Russia's total seaborne Oil exports even reaching a 17-month high. This could be because refineries were also affected by the drone attacks, which meant they were unable to process as much crude Oil, leaving more crude Oil available for export."
"For this reason, plans for Oil exports from western Russian ports in September were revised upward by 11% to 2.1 million barrels per day. Loadings are said to have resumed yesterday at the port of Primorsk. This suggests that Oil supplies have not been significantly affected."