CPC Shuts Down Export Loadings After Attack on SPM Buoy
The Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) has ceased loading at its offshore terminal outside Novorossiysk after an apparent Ukrainian drone boat attack, its managers said in a statement Saturday. The news parallels a Ukrainian attack on two "shadow fleet" tankers in the Turkish sector of the Black Sea, and if accurate, it suggests an increasing willingness to target the Russian oil economy by all available means - even if that means attacking nominally neutral targets.
CPC is co-owned by Chevron and Exxon, and it primarily transports Kazakh oil to market. Its main connection with Russia is geographic, as its pipeline crosses Russian soil en route to a terminal on a Russian coastline. Historically it has exported only a small quantity of Russian oil. However, it has been attacked before: CPC's operating headquarters in Novorossiysk, Russia were reportedly hit in a Ukrainian missile and drone strike in late September, and one of its pumping stations was attacked in February.
This time, according to the consortium, a "targeted terrorist attack" took aim at the single-point moorings that are permanently anchored off the coast. These three SPMs handle about one percent of all global oil trade, and they could be attractive targets for a drone boat attack: stationary, isolated, far offshore, and of strategic importance. CPC's statement suggested that the strike caused "significant" damage to one SPM buoy.
Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the strike, but Kazakhstan has issued a warning to Kyiv to cease and desist attacks on "civilian" infrastructure.
"The CPC pipeline system is an international energy project, and any forceful impact on its facilities creates direct risks for global energy security and causes substantial harm to the economic interests of the consortium’s participants," the Kazakh energy ministry said in a statement. "We regard this incident as an action detrimental to the bilateral relations between the Republic of Kazakhstan and Ukraine, and we expect the Ukrainian side to take concrete measures to prevent such incidents from recurring."
Ukraine has systematically targeted Russian petroleum export terminals in Novorossyisk and Tuapse over the past two months, leaving the CPC terminal as the last large oil export facility in operation on the Russian Black Sea Coast.
On Friday, Ukrainian forces struck and damaged two Russia-linked "shadow fleet" tankers in the southern Black Sea, disabling both and forcing the crews to abandon ship. No injuries were reported, but Turkish responders are working to prevent bunker fuel pollution from spreading. Whether by accident or by design, both vessels selected for targeting were in ballast at the time of the strike, reducing the potential for a catastrophic spill.