Georgian Ports Run Out of Oil as Russian Troops Block Railways

By Eduard Gismatullin

Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Georgian Black Sea ports are running out of crude and oil-product supplies as Russian military troops block railways near the city of Khashuri, a shipping agent said.

Rail transportation will probably resume in three to four days, Vako Kavzharadze, an agent at TeRo Co. Ltd. in the Georgian port of Batumi, said today in an e-mailed statement.

BP Plc, Azerbaijan's national oil company and other exporters halted crude and product exports by rail through Georgia to the Black Sea after a bridge was blown up near the village of Grakali on Aug. 16.

An ``alternative bridge is fixed, however Russian troops blocked the railways near the city of Khashuri,'' about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Tbilisi, Kavzharadze said.

Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of Russia's General Staff, denied his military was involved in the bridge attack.

Two main pipelines for Azeri crude remain shut because of the conflict in Georgia and a fire that damaged the Turkish stretch of a 1 million-barrel-a-day link. Russia started withdrawing its troops from Georgia after President Dmitry Medvedev announced the pullout Aug. 17.

Shippers declared force majeure on exports from the Supsa and Ceyhan ports, a legal clause that exempts them from meeting contracts because of circumstances beyond their control.

To contact the reporter on this story: Eduard Gismatullin in London at egismatullin@bloomberg.net