A drone struck a tanker loading crude oil at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium’s (CPC) Black Sea export terminal on Monday, according to regional media reports, forcing the suspension of exports for the second time in less than 24 hours.
The CPC said the tanker NELSA was loading at Single Point Mooring 1 (SPM-1) when the drone hit the vessel’s starboard aft section, igniting a fire on deck and in compartments between the accommodation block and engine room. Emergency crews extinguished the fire within hours; the tanker remained afloat, and no oil spill was reported. No official statements had been issued as of the time of writing regarding a resumption of loadings.
It was the second strike in less than 24 hours.
On Sunday, a drone attack forced CPC to suspend crude loadings before operations resumed later that evening. CPC said tankers loading crude owned by Kazakhstan and U.S. shippers were targeted in the earlier attack.
Neither CPC nor Kazakhstan identified who carried out Monday’s attack.
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Energy condemned both incidents, calling them terrorist attacks on civilian maritime infrastructure and Kazakhstan’s economic interests.
According to the Times of Central Asia, Chevron said it was aware of reports of the incident involving a vessel loading Tengiz crude at the CPC terminal but declined to comment further.
The 1,511-kilometer CPC pipeline carries more than two-thirds of Kazakhstan’s crude exports together with oil produced from Russian fields in the Caspian region to the Black Sea export terminal near Novorossiysk. Shareholders include Chevron, ExxonMobil, KazMunayGas, Lukoil, Rosneft, Shell and Eni, making the system one of the world’s largest internationally owned crude export routes.
The CPC system accounts for roughly 1% of global oil supply, carrying crude primarily from Kazakhstan’s giant Tengiz, Kashagan and Karachaganak fields, with additional volumes from Russian producers in the Caspian region.
The latest attack follows a series of disruptions to CPC operations since the start of the war, including previous attacks on the pipeline and export infrastructure that temporarily reduced crude shipments from Kazakhstan. Despite repeated interruptions, the consortium has generally restored operations within days, although no timetable had been announced for resuming loadings following Monday’s strike.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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