Commodity infrastructure in eastern Russia and Japan appears to be largely unscathed following a massive earthquake in the region earlier today, although details are still emerging.
An earthquake of magnitude 8.8 hit Russia's Kamchatka peninsula at 11:25 local time (23:25 GMT), the US Geological Survey (USGS) said. This makes it the joint-sixth largest quake ever recorded, according to USGS figures.
Tsunami alerts have been issued across the Pacific Rim, as far away as Hawaii and Peru. Evacuations were ordered for parts of Japan's east coast, south of the epicentre.
There is no immediate sign of damage to major ports or coastal commodity infrastructure in the region, or of any disruption to trade. Oil and gas infrastructure in Russia's far east includes the Sakhalin LNG and Sakhalin crude projects, located on Sakhalin island, and the ports of Kozmino and Nakodkha near Vladivostok on the mainland.
Crude loadings from Sakhalin do not appear to have been affected, a market participant said. Russia's far east ports exported 242,000 b/d of Sokol and Sakhalin Blend crude in January-June this year, down by 3pc from a year earlier.
Exports of ESPO Blend from Kozmino averaged around 926,000 b/d in the period, according to oil analytics firm Vortexa.
There is no indication of any disruption to LNG shipments from Sakhalin, a source at an offtaker said.
Tsunami waves partially flooded the port of Severo-Kurilsk on Sakhalin, according to Russia's emergency ministry. The port handles cabotage operations and there is no impact on international trade, a freight market participant said.
The Japanese government said no significant damage has been reported to key infrastructure including electricity, gas and water supplies and nuclear power plants.
No oil refiners have reported tsunami-related damage, although some refinery facilities near the earthquake's epicentre, including in Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido, have temporarily suspended deliveries. This is affecting bunker loadings, market participants said, although the extent of the impact is so far unclear.
Steelmaker JFE has suspended cargo handling of iron ore and coking coal at its import terminal in Chiba prefecture, eastern Japan, but is reporting no damage to its facilities.
There are no major disruptions to domestic power supply, although some electricity companies have either cut operational capacity or shut down generation units. Japanese biomass plants are also unaffected.
