Key facts
- A drone struck a tanker at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium's (CPC) Black Sea export terminal on Monday.
- The incident forced the suspension of crude oil exports.
- This is the second drone attack on CPC operations in less than 24 hours.
- The tanker NELSA was hit on its starboard aft section, causing a fire that was extinguished.
- No oil spill was reported, and the tanker remained afloat.
- Kazakhstan has condemned the attacks as targeting civilian maritime infrastructure and economic interests.
A drone strike on a tanker loading crude oil at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium's (CPC) Black Sea export terminal on Monday has led to the suspension of exports. The incident, which occurred on the tanker NELSA, caused a fire that was quickly extinguished, with no reported oil spill. This marks the second disruption to CPC operations in less than 24 hours, following a similar drone attack on Sunday that also temporarily halted loadings.
Kazakhstan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Energy condemned both incidents, labeling them as terrorist attacks on civilian maritime infrastructure and the nation's economic interests. While neither CPC nor Kazakhstan has officially identified the perpetrator of Monday's attack, the CPC pipeline is a critical export route, carrying over two-thirds of Kazakhstan's crude oil and oil from Russian fields to the Black Sea terminal near Novorossiysk.
The CPC system, with major shareholders including Chevron, ExxonMobil, Lukoil, and Shell, accounts for approximately 1% of global oil supply. The pipeline transports crude primarily from Kazakhstan's large Tengiz, Kashagan, and Karachaganak fields, along with volumes from Russian producers. Despite previous disruptions since the start of the war in Ukraine, CPC operations have typically been restored within days, though no timeline for resuming loadings has been announced following Monday's strike.