On 30 July, the main terminal for the export of Kazakhstani oil on the Black Sea once again, for the third time this month, halted the loading of crude oil onto tankers following drone attacks on two vessels directly at and near the terminal in the Russian port of Novorossiysk, Reuters reports.
The international ‘Caspian Pipeline Consortium’(CPC), which owns the terminal and the pipeline, announced on 30 July that oil loading had been suspended following a night-time drone attack on the tanker NISSOS SIFNOS, flying the flag of the Marshall Islands, “which was being loaded with oil at the CPC’s VPU-3 offshore mooring facility”. The CPC also reported an attack on the tanker MARATHI, flying the flag of the Isle of Man, which was en route to receive oil.
KTK emphasised the “unacceptability of the use of force against international energy infrastructure facilities” and the “disregard” for relevant appeals from the Kazakhstani leadership and “other foreign shareholders, in particular via the US State Department”.
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy confirmed the strikes but did not name Ukraine as the perpetrator. Units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces responsible for operating drones reported that they had carried out strikes overnight on four Russian tankers in the Black and Azov Seas, but did not specify the exact locations of the attacks, Reuters notes.
A Telegram post published on 30 July by Robert Brovdy (“Magyar”), commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Unmanned Systems Forces, mentions a further four tankers that were hit as part of a military campaign against vessels belonging to Russia’s “shadow fleet”. In total, according to Brovdy, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have attacked 205 tankers since 6 July.
The day before, Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Yermek Kosherbayev and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed transport via the CPC. A statement on the State Department’s website states that the parties discussed the importance of energy security, in particular the reliable and uninterrupted export of Kazakh oil. “The Secretary of State expressed gratitude for Kazakhstan’s firm support for President Trump’s peace initiatives,” the statement noted.
Prior to this, The Wall Street Journal reported that the US administration had warned Ukraine that attacks on tankers not owned by Russia were unacceptable, following an appeal from the head of Chevron, whose interests, including those in Kazakhstan, had been affected by recent Ukrainian strikes.
The CPC connects the oil fields of western Kazakhstan and the Russian fields on the Caspian shelf with the seaport terminal in Novorossiysk on the Black Sea. The system is the main export route for Kazakh oil, accounting for more than 80 per cent of the volume transported via pipeline from Kazakhstan.