Greek-Operated Tanker Hit by Unknown Assailants Near CPC Terminal
The Greek-owned tanker Maran Homer (IMO 9761372) has been hit by an attack while awaiting loading at the port of Novorossiysk, Russia, according to Greece's shipping ministry.
Operator Maran Tankers Management reports that Maran Homer was struck by an unknown object at 0435 local time on Saturday. The tanker was located in international waters of the Black Sea and was awaiting instructions to load Kazakh-origin oil at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) single-point mooring terminal.
The tanker sustained only minor damage to the deck and deck equipment, the company said. The vessel was in ballast at the time of the strike, and there were no signs of pollution. Following the attack, the ship departed the scene and got under way.
Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the strike.
The Maran Homer's specific destination is of consequence, as there are two terminals at Novorossiysk: the Sheskharis terminal in the inner harbor, which exclusively loads Russian oil and has been repeatedly attacked by Ukrainian forces; and the CPC terminal in deep water outside the harbor, which loads mostly Kazakh oil piped overland through Russia.
Ukraine has attacked the CPC pipeline, loading terminal and associated tanker traffic in the past. These actions have attracted pushback from the U.S. government, which views the CPC as essential to American interests in the region. Chevron and ExxonMobil hold minority ownership stakes in the CPC pipeline and terminal, and taken together, the two American companies own 75 percent of Kazakhstan's Tengiz field, the prolific field that feeds the pipeline. The CPC loading terminal is a key bottleneck for Tengiz, as Kazakhstan has few other export routes to get its oil to global markets. Warnings of potential Ukrainian strikes on the loading terminal (among other factors) have delayed the ramp-up of Tengiz to full rated capacity, according to Reuters.
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The CPC pipeline's largest shareholder is Russian midstream company Transneft, which earns transit revenue for the barrels that pass through the system. Ukraine views Russian energy assets - Transneft included - as top-priority targets, as petroleum revenue is essential to covering the cost of Russia's ongoing invasion.
Top image: Maran Homer in a calmer era, 2017 (file image courtesy Cengiz Tokgöz / VesselFinder)