Med crude-Urals differentials unchanged, oil tankers heading to CPC terminal suffered drone attacks

Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port PAO

13/01/2026 19:27

MOSCOW, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Russian Urals crude differentials were stable on Tuesday in muted trade, while the two tankers that headed to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) to load oil suffered drone attacks.

Drones struck two oil tankers in the Black Sea on Tuesday, including one chartered by U.S. oil major Chevron CVX.N, the companies involved said, as they sailed toward a terminal on the Russian coast.

War insurance costs for ships sailing to the Black Sea nearly doubled on Tuesday following the attacks, five industry sources said.

The CPC terminal resumed loadings after storms on Tuesday, but January exports have already fallen 70% behind schedule due to storms and limited loading capacity due to ongoing repairs on its moorings.

PLATTS WINDOW

Italy's Eni bid for 650,000 barrels of Azeri BTC loading from Ceyhan on February 6-10 at a premium of $4.80 per barrel to dated Brent, but failed to find a seller.

No bids or offers were made on Tuesday for Urals or CPC Blend, traders said.

NEWS

Venezuela's state energy company PDVSA has begun reversing oil production cuts made under a strict U.S. oil embargo as crude exports resume under U.S. supervision, three sources close to operations said on Tuesday.

Oil prices surged by more than 2% on Tuesday as the prospect of disruptions to Iranian crude exports overshadowed possible increased supply from Venezuela.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Paul Simao)