Novorossisk, Russia's principal Black Sea port, processed 66 million tonnes of cargo in 2003, about 78 percent oil and petroleum products, with volumes growing by roughly five million tonnes annually. The port channels a quarter of Russia's oil exports alongside Caspian crude.
Soviet-era infrastructure and a cramped coastal setting hamper growth. Squeezed between the Caucasian foothills and a city of 204,000, the facility also has inadequate road and rail connections. The surrounding municipality lacks reliable electricity and water; poor drainage contributed to deadly flooding in 2002. Investment from both the state and private shareholder Uralsib has fallen short, and the government planned to sell its remaining 20 percent stake in 2005.
A new Transneft-linked terminal has opened, and the CPC Caspian pipeline, built by Kazakh, Russian, Omani, and US investors, already routes crude here against a capacity of 68 million tonnes. Transneft's vice president said oil transit through the port "has reached a peak," and the Primorsk terminal in the Gulf of Finland was expected to surpass Novorossisk in 2004. Türkiye's Bosphorus passage restrictions add further pressure; Moscow suspected political motives, pointing to the BP-led Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, due to carry one million barrels per day to the Mediterranean by early 2005.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in August 2004, in its own words.