CPC halted oil loading after the attack on two tankers near Novorossiysk.
The Caspian Pipeline Consortium reported a drone attack on two tankers near its terminal in Novorossiysk, with no casualties reported.
As reported by "Caucasian Knot", today debris from the drone fell on the territory of the enterprise in the village of Volna in the Krasnodar region, resulting in four people being injured. Three of them were hospitalized.
On July 20, a drone attacked a tanker at the CPC terminal in Novorossiysk during oil loading. A fire broke out on the deck and in the holds of the vessel. On July 19, drones attacked the tankers Asia and Nissos Ios also during oil loading at the terminal.
The tanker Nissos Sifnos, which was loading oil at the CPC offshore mooring facility VPU-3, was attacked. The attack occurred at 1:48 AM Moscow time, and the tanker flies the flag of the Marshall Islands.
"As a result of the drone attack, a fire broke out in the area of the manifolds for receiving oil on the cargo deck, which was extinguished by the crew of the tanker with the participation of three auxiliary vessels of the CPC," the message quoted by RBC said. In addition, six nautical miles from the terminal (about 11 km), the tanker Marathi, which flies the flag of the Isle of Man, was attacked while heading to receive oil.
There are no casualties or injuries among CPC employees and contractors, and there was no oil spill. The tanker remained afloat. "Oil loading has been halted, and the pipeline facilities are operating normally," RBC quoted the consortium's message.
"Thus, the calls from the Republic of Kazakhstan and other foreign shareholders of the CPC, including through the U.S. State Department, regarding the inadmissibility of forceful actions against international energy infrastructure have been ignored," the consortium emphasized. This causes significant damage to both the republic and the largest Western oil companies, including Chevron, Total, ExxonMobil, Shell, and Eni, the company noted.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan condemned the drone attacks on vessels involved in transporting oil through the CPC infrastructure on July 19. The ministry called these attacks an encroachment on the economic interests of the country and demanded an immediate cessation of the attacks, reported IA "Kazinform".
In addition, damage to infrastructure was recorded at the port of Taman in the Krasnodar region after the drone attack.
"There are casualties, and there is damage to port infrastructure. The Novorossiysk transport prosecutor's office is monitoring the activities of law enforcement agencies and other departments at the scene, as well as ensuring the rights of the enterprise's workers," the message said in a Telegram channel from the Southern Transport Prosecutor's Office.
Earlier, analysts interviewed by "Caucasian Knot" noted that Kazakhstan could supply only about four million tons of oil per year to Europe through Azerbaijan and Georgia in the event of a CPC shutdown. This volume is significantly less than the volume supplied through Novorossiysk (67 million tons per year).