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Sources say that the Sheskharis terminal in Russia's Black Sea halted loadings following a drone attack.
Three sources familiar with the matter confirmed that the suspension of crude oil exports was due to a drone attack on Friday. This added to the disruptions at one of the country's main export outlets. Sheskharis, Russia's largest oil export facility in the Black Sea, handles approximately 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day. The shutdown of the Sheskharis terminal adds pressure to Russia's energy infrastructure, which has been repeatedly attacked in recent months. On Friday, the administration of Novorossiysk sent out a new drone alert to residents. This indicates that there is a continuing threat in the port area. A source said that a tanker, which was scheduled to load crude oil at the port, left early Friday morning for the 'open sea' after a drone attempted attack on the terminal. The source said that as a result, the port stopped receiving crude oil at the terminal and suspended loading of crude because the storage tanks were full. Sources could not be identified due to?the sensitive nature of the issue. The disruption comes after a period in which export volumes were high. According to a source familiar with export data, crude loadings from Novorossiysk were close to 1,000,000 bpd by July, and about 800,000 bpd by June. Novorossiysk exports?Russian Urals crude oil, Kazakhstan's KEBCO mixture and?Siberian Light Oil. The suspension comes after a series disruptions in oil exports out of Russia's Black Sea coast. Last month, Ukrainian drone attacks temporarily stopped loadings at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal near Novorossiysk. This reduced exports of CPC Blend and affected supplies to major customers, including Turkey.
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Boeing's Wisk Sale is unlikely to spark another divestment Round
Analysts said that Boeing's announcement that it was selling Wisk 'Aero this week is less of a sign 'of a wider breakup' than an attempt to "shed" a struggling non-core business which had become a distraction for the aerospace giant's efforts to turn around. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg had previously stated that he planned to sell non-essential components of the company, including its subsidiaries, in order to stabilize the balance sheet and focus more on its core business -- commercial aviation, defense and space. Since 2024 when the portfolio review was completed, only two major sales have taken place: Jeppesen, a digital aviation services provider, for $10,6 billion in 2025, and Monday's purchase of Wisk, drone manufacturer Insitu, and airspace-services company SkyGrid, for a nearly 20% share in Archer Aviation. The Archer stake, which Boeing will not receive until the deal is closed, is only worth a little over $1 billion according to its Thursday night share price. The company received a much-needed cash injection to stabilize its balance sheet by selling Jeppesen, but the sale of Wisk was a risky distraction and a way to offload risks. The development and certification of 'air taxis' and similar aircraft took a lot longer and cost more money than the advocates expected. They must still prove that they are viable commercially and overcome significant regulatory hurdles. Aboulafia stated that Wisk cost Boeing time and money, but there was no obvious payoff. Boeing sold Wisk Aero to other major electric vertical lift-off and landing (eVTOL), but they declined the sale. This deal is a win-win situation Boeing and Archer have agreed to a?collaboration and technology-sharing deal that will allow Boeing to use Wisk's autonomous-flight core technology for its current and future commercial aircraft programs. Brian Yutko said that the deal was a win-win for both parties. Yutko served as CEO of Wisk from May 2025 until he assumed his current position at Boeing. Archer brings together complementary autonomy capabilities and electric aviation technologies developed over many decades. Boeing's equity stake in Archer allows us to maintain market exposure and gain strategic upside. We can also continue to integrate these technologies into our products and sharpen our focus on our core commercial, defence and services businesses. Archer Aviation CEO Adam Goldstein said on X that the share price of Archer was up 24% as of Thursday. This is a significant increase since the announcement of the deal. While some critics saw 'Boeing’s equity stake in the deal as a sign that the company wanted to?offload risk, Archer Aviation Chief Executive Adam Goldstein stated on X: "the deal structure shows that Boeing understands the value of this combination ..." Aboulafia, and other industry experts, said that Boeing is now focused on increasing its jetliner production rather than pruning its portfolio. (Reporting and editing by Kate Maybery in Seattle, with Dan Catchpole reporting from Seattle)
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The Danube's record low levels have revealed sunken World War Two shipwrecks
Two World War II German warships have surfaced in Eastern Serbia due to a record-low water level that exposed sandbanks and stranded vessels. The rusty hulls of boats that were submerged since 1945 are now visible. Further north, in Novi Sad, many small vessels docked at marinas still remain stranded. Ljubisa Karali, a local fisherman from Prahovo said: "This is a first, the wrecks that we are heading toward right now have never before been so visible." "They have always been submerged. What we are?seeing is utterly unparalleled." The'record-breaking heatwaves' that have swept across Europe this summer caused severe drought in some parts, including the Rhine and Danube. The Danube temperatures in Serbia were at a maximum of 28 degrees Celsius. "A record was broken in terms of the?Danube discharge." Jelena Jerinic, of Serbia's Hydrometeorological Service, said: "We hope that this is the minimum.?Rain is forecast upstream, which should improve the situation." She warned that biodiversity along the river is also threatened. High (water) temperature, combined with low water volume, can accelerate the proliferation of bacteria and microorganisms, while reducing dissolved oxygen. (Reporting from Fedja Grulovic, Marko Djurica, Ivana Skularac, editing by Chizu Nomiayama)
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Oil spillage off Oman is threatening to cause a disaster as two slicks are seen in the Gulf
Satellite imagery and video confirmed that two slicks appeared in Iranian waters. The Caroline Bezengi tanker is currently leaking Russian crude in a marine protected area, creating a massive oil spill that some estimate to be 2,000 square kilometers. The Caroline Bezengi case is not linked to the Iran War. Two new slicks have been detected in the Gulf. Near DOLPHIN SHAPED ISLAND Images from Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites show that a slick is visible near the southern tip Qeshm Island. This large island shaped like a dolphin lies in the Strait of Hormuz, close to Iran's coastline. Wim Zwijnenburg is an environmental researcher and open-source researcher for the Dutch peace organization PAX. He said that the dark color in some parts of the slick was fuel oil heavy, while the lighter, diluted slick spanned around 160 km. In a video that was posted on 11 August and confirmed by the, dark, bubbling liquid washing up on the beaches at?Suza, Qeshm Island contrasted with the turquoise waters surrounding it. John Amos, CEO at SkyTruth which uses satellite images to detect oil spills called it "a major event". Satellite images showed that a second slick was spotted in the Gulf near Sirri Island, a smaller island located about 100 km southwest from Qeshm. This is where some Iranian offshore oil production takes place. Satellite imagery of Qeshm Island and Sirri Island were taken on August 10, respectively. A DRY BULK CARRIER HAS BEEN ATTACKED Samir Madani said that the Qeshm island slick was likely caused by a leak on the Minoan Pioneer dry bulk ship. The Liberia flagged vessel is a co-founder of TankerTrackers.com, an online monitoring service. Sources from maritime security said that the Minoan Pioneer, while passing through the Strait of Hormuz in an alleged Iranian attack on 3 August, was struck by an unknown projectile near Oman's coast. One seafarer has gone missing. One maritime security source said that the same leak may have affected Qeshm Island. Esmaeil BAQAEI, a spokesperson for Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on X in a posting that oil pollution had?reached Qeshm Island, and that preliminary evidence "indicates a bulk carrier from abroad as the source". Could not independently confirm either slick's cause nor identify the chemicals involved. Sources involved in the salvage of the 'Minoan Pioneer', who refused to be named due to the sensitive nature of the matter, said on Friday that the tugboat sent to secure the vessel grounded could not reach it because the Iranian authorities had to grant permission. The Iranian Mission at Geneva has not responded to an immediate comment request. The conflict in this region has complicated efforts to assess and clean-up spills in Gulf waters, according to Brian Barnes, assistant professor of research and satellite oceanographer at the University of South Florida. The longer the oil leaks into the environment, the greater the damage it can cause to ecosystems and coastlines. (Reporting from Nilo Tabrizy and Jonathan Saul, in London; Catherine Cartier, in Winston-Salem North Carolina; and Renee Maltezou, in Athens. Additional reporting by Emily Giles. Editing by Jason Neely.
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Data shows that Turkey has cut its Russian oil imports due to Black Sea export disruptions, which have slowed down supplies.
According to traders and LSEG shipping data, Turkey cut oil purchases in Russian ports by 30% in July. It is expected to further reduce them in August as a result of Ukrainian drone attacks that disrupted the exports to Russia's Black Sea Terminals. In July, Ukraine intensified its attacks on?Russia?s Black Sea Terminal. This led to an export suspension of one week from the CPC terminal as well as unstable loadings at Novorossiysk. Caspian Pipeline Consortium oil loadings were reduced by 5 percent in July. Turkey condemned attacks on Russian-linked tankers that were?close to the waters of its Black Sea. They said they were alarming, and affected navigational safety and commerce in the area. In July, Turkey, which is one of the largest buyers of CPC Blend oil, Kazakh KEBCO oil, and Urals oil grades from Russian ports, only received 900,000 tonnes of oil, down from 1.2 million in June. LSEG data shows that just over 300,000 tonnes of this oil was supplied by the 'Black Sea, compared with 600,000 in June. According to LSEG, Turkey will receive 200,000 tons worth of oil in August from Russia's Black Sea port. Two tankers are expected to deliver KEBCO Kazakh oil to Turkey. However, no CPC?Blend oil or Urals oil is planned for this month. Data may be updated at a later date. Turkey diversifies its supply to offset the 'negative effects of the Black Sea Crisis, traders said. They added that in August, the state will import rare oil from Brazil and Guyana. Since the middle of the last month, loadings of the CPC pipeline have been disrupted. This is in addition to the supply disruptions linked to the U.S. and Israeli war against?Iran. The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that Ukraine had halted drone attacks?on non Russian oil tankers using Russia’s Black Sea CPC Terminal after a request by U.S. Vice-President JD Vance.
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Deutsche Bahn's DB InfraGO challenges German regulator's rail-capacity ruling
DB InfraGO, a division of Deutsche Bahn that manages rail 'tracks' and capacity, took legal 'action' over a regulator's decision to restrict 'Deutsche Bahn access to 'congested routes', the company said on Friday. In its Friday filing, it also requested a suspension in the regulatory order while it pursues its legal challenge. In July, the Federal Network Agency of Germany ordered DB InfraGO that it would cap any one operator's share 'at 60% to 70% on certain congested route' to allow rivals to access. The German?Bahn, which controls 95% of Germany’s long-distance market, is currently battling chronic delays and undergoing a decade-long network upgrade that will cost approximately EUR150 billion ($173billion). The July ruling by the regulator followed a complaint from?Italian High-Speed Operator Italo The company, which wants to enter the German market by 2028, says that it needs predictable access to an already overloaded network. DB InfraGO stated that the regulator's decisions favoured operators who have a regular timetable and may disadvantage new entrants or established operators if they do not follow this model. In a press release, DB InfraGO AG stated that it hoped to clarify the legal basis, the proportionality and the 'practical feasibility' of the orders issued by the authority. The network regulator stated that the DB InfraGO decision was "not unexpected given the fundamental importance of the case". It said that the?arguments made had already been the subject matter of proceedings, and they were taken into account.
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Dubai's earnings slip due to weak Air Arabia and Alec, while Abu Dhabi gains
Dubai's main stock index fell on Friday, after the United States threatened a?naval?blockade against Iran. This sparked concerns about potential?trade disruptors in the?Middle East. The United States said on Thursday that it would continue to maintain its naval blockade against Iran and increase economic pressure in Tehran, as the ceasefire talks failed. Dubai's main index dropped 0.4% for the second consecutive session. This was dragged down by a 4.1% decline in budget airline Air Arabia, and a 0.5% drop in blue-chip developer Emaar Properties. Air Arabia reported its largest intraday drop in over three months after reporting a fall of 75% in the?second quarter net profit, to 87.9 million dirhams (US$23.93). The Investment Corporation of Dubai's construction firm Alec Holding dropped 4.4%, to a new four-month-low after reporting a loss of 16.3 millions dirhams ($4.44million) in the second quarter. This compares with a profit of 122.9% dirhams one year ago. The benchmark index in Abu?Dhabi rose 0.02%. This was boosted by Orascom Construction's 1.8% gain and Space42, a space tech company powered by AI. Orascom Construction, an EPC contractor based in Cairo, reported a 74% increase in net profit for the second quarter to $61.9 millions. Adnoc Gas fell 0.9% following its parent company's?statement that two of their vessels were?attacked on Thursday night while transiting through the Strait of Hormuz. LSEG data shows that Abu Dhabi's Index posted a -0.5% loss for the week after?three weeks of gains. Dubai dropped 1% following two weeks of gains.
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Sinograin, a Chinese soybean company, announces its fourth major auction since July.
Sinograin, a Chinese company, announced on Friday that it will auction 360,000 metric tonnes of imported soybeans on August 19. Industry experts believe that the state stockpiler is clearing out space for incoming U.S. soyabeans, as evidenced by its fourth sale since July. According to a?notice from the National Grain Trade Centre, a?sale is scheduled for 1:30 pm (0530 GMT) on Wednesday. It will include soybeans produced between 2022 and 2025. After a 'May summit between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, China agreed to purchase 25 million tons of U.S. soya beans annually until 2028. Two traders in 'Asia' said that China has 'already bought about 7 million tonnes of U.S. soya beans as of this week and they expect Sinograin will continue auctions over the next few weeks. Reporting by Shi 'Bu, Yukun Zhu and Liz Lee Editing and David Goodson by Hugh Lawson
What sites have been attacked by Ukraine?
In the last two weeks, Ukrainian forces have intensified their attacks on Russia's infrastructure for energy. Fuel shortages are worsened by the drone attacks in Russia. People have reported high prices and long lines at fuel stations in most regions.
Here is a brief summary of recent attacks, starting with the latest.
SALAVAT
According to industry sources, the Salavat Petrochemical Complex, located in Bashkortostan's Urals region, stopped operations on July 14th following an attack by a Ukrainian drone.
A fire broke at the Afipsky refinery, in southern Krasnodar Region of Russia. The cause was drone debris that fell from the sky. Emergency services announced this on 14th July. The refinery is capable of processing over 9 million metric tons per year.
SYZRAN According to industry sources, the Russian oil refinery Syzran on the Volga River in the Samara region has halted operations after a Ukrainian drone attacked on July 12, damaging a primary processing facility. Ukrainian drones attacked the Rosneft owned refinery on May 21. After the attack, the refinery had to stop operations due to damage caused by a primary processing unit. The refinery had suspended operations after the attacks of April 18.
The refinery's processing capacity is 8.5 million tonnes per year. According to industry sources, in 2024 it will have processed 4.3 millions tons of crude oil into 800,000 tonnes of gasoline, 1,5 million tons diesel, and 700,000 tonnes of fuel oil.
SARATOV Two sources claim that the Saratov oil refinery in Russia stopped processing oil on 9 July after a drone attacked caused damage.
The plant will process 5.8 million tonnes of oil in 2024. This is 2.2% of Russia’s total refining production. It will produce 1.2 millions tons of gasoline, as well as 1.9 million tones of diesel, and?1.0million tons of fuel oil.
ILSKY On July 10, local officials reported that a drone had attacked the Ilsky oil refinery, located in southern Krasnodar.
The design capacity of the refinery is more than 6 million metric tonnes of oil per annum.
OMSK On July?6, Ukrainian drones attacked the Omsk refinery, causing a large fire. The Russian air defences destroyed the majority of drones that were involved in the attack. Governor Vitaly Khodsenko confirmed this. The extent of the damage to the refinery was not immediately known.
The design capacity of Omsk's oil refinery is about 22 million metric tonnes of oil per annum.
NORSI Ukrainian drones struck NORSI, Russia’s fourth largest oil refinery owned by Lukoil for the second time on 2 July and crude processing has been suspended according to sources.
The attack damaged CDU-6 which can process 25700 metric tonnes per day. This is 53% of refinery capacity.
NORSI can process up to 16 million metric tonnes of oil per annum, or about 320,000 barrels a day.
Local authorities reported that on June 28, Ukrainian drones attacked Russian targets, including the Slavyansk Oil Refinery in southern Krasnodar Region.
Slavyansk Refinery is a privately owned plant with a capacity of approximately 100,000 barrels per day.
YAROSLAVL On July 6, Ukrainian forces attacked a Russian refinery located in Yaroslavl (about 250 km from Moscow).
The refinery can process 15 million metric tonnes per year or about 300,000 barrels a day.
UFA Ukraine forces attacked an oil refinery a second-time on 1 July in Ufa near the southern Ural Mountains. The refinery is capable of processing more than 7,000,000 tons of oil annually.
ORENBURG On June 24, the Ukrainian military announced that it had hit Orenburg's gas processing plant. The plant has a production capacity of 45 billion cubic metres of natural gas each year.
MOSCOW According to sources, the operations of an oil refinery in Moscow were halted on 16 June after a drone attack by Ukraine. On June 18, a second attack caused damage to processing units and multiple fires.
The Kapotnya district in the south-east of the capital has a capacity of 11 million tons per year.
TANECO Tatneft Russian TANECO oil refinery halted operation after a drone strike on June 12th.
The refinery is equipped with hydrocracking units, catalytic and delayed coking.
According to industry data, TANECO will process 17 million tonnes of crude oil by 2024 and produce 2.7 millions tons of gasoline, 8.5 millions tons of diesel fuel, and 1.3million tons of petroleum coke.
KUIBYSHEV Rosneft’s Kuibyshev refinery stopped processing on 10 June after a drone attack.
According to industry sources, the refinery will process 4.7 million tonnes of crude oil in 2024.
TUAPSE Ukraine attacked a refinery at the Black Sea port Tuapse, Ukraine's military reported on May 27. Officials said that a drone attack caused a major fire to break out at the refinery in April 28. The facility was forced to stop operations.
The plant has an annual capacity of 12 million tonnes and produces fuel oil, naphtha and vacuum gasoil.
Ports/Oil Facilities Ukraine attacked two Russian oil depots located in Tver and Stavropol, about 500 kilometers (310 miles), from the frontline, said President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on July 9. On July 8, Ukrainian drones struck the Krasnodarskaya Pumping Station, which is part of the natural-gas supply chain from Turkey to Ukraine via the Blue Stream Pipeline. Gas supplies were unaffected. Kyiv reported on July 8 that Ukrainian drones had'struck an oil-pumping station in Russia Bashkortostan, over 1,500km from the border. Authorities said that Ukrainian drones attacked the Baltic Sea ports Vysotsk, Ust-Luga and Sevastopol on July 6, causing damage to the major oil exporting outlets of Vysotsk, Ust-Luga and Sevastopol. They also caused an outage in Sevastopol (home of Russia's Black Sea Fleet), a city located in Crimea. Authorities reported on June 8 that a loading complex in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk caught fire after a drone strike. Authorities in Krasnodar said that a fire started at the southern Russian port of Temryuk following a drone attack by Ukraine. The local governor reported that fuel storage facilities in the Yaroslavl area of Russia caught fire after a Ukraine drone attack on May 29. On May 3, Ukraine attacked Russia’s ports in the Baltic Sea and Black Sea, including Primorsk, oil tanks and military vessels.
TANKERS On July 8, industry sources reported that a drone attacked Chevron's Yasa Polaris oil-tanker, which was used to transport Caspian Pipeline consortium shipments off the coast of Russia. On July 8, the governor of Russia's Rostov Region said that two tankers had been attacked by Ukrainian drones on the Sea of Azov. (Reporting and Editing by Ros Russel)
(source: Reuters)